


In Every Lost Soul the Bones of a Miracle

by Mysterious_Prophetess



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Keith (Voltron), Altean Keith (Voltron), Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-08-20 13:17:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8250457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterious_Prophetess/pseuds/Mysterious_Prophetess
Summary: Based on  i-see-london-i-see-klance's theory post.
Zarkon had said: "You fight like a Galra soldier." whenever he'd wanted to say, "You fight like my son." 
Sometimes death is only "good bye for now" whenever Galra magic gets involved.





	1. Prologue

_Altea’s fall couldn’t come soon enough. How_ **_dare_ ** _Alfor drive him to this! Zarkon clutched his bayard in his hand. They might have stolen his lion from him, but he would be draitaolced if he was letting those traitorous Paladins get a hold of this too._ **_That lion and Voltron were his by rights!_ **

_“My lord, someone approaches,” Haggar said from her place by his side. The Druid was worth her weight in quintessence. The doors to his throne were thrown in as a messenger appeared._

_“Emperor Zarkon, it’s Prince Lotor!”_

_—————————————————— ——————————_

_Zarkon stared down at his son in horror. Half the demi-galra’s chest was gone, fortunately his heart was_ mostly _intact._

_“Do what you must to preserve his life, do I make myself clear?” Zarkon said._

_“Of course,” Haggar said, “I will do everything in my power.”_

_——————— —————————— —————————_

_Haggar frowned at the readouts. She’d managed to slow down the prince’s decline but she had not stopped it. It would not matter what she did. There was no fixing the catastrophic damage to this body. Even bathing him in pure quintessence would not prolong his life; it would only increase his suffering. If the hybrid had only been a little less like his father—No matter. She still had to try to beat death at its own game. Zarkon did not appreciate failure._

_———————————————— ——————————————————_

_She had it, but it was not certain. She could save the Prince’s quintessence and it could be placed in a new vessel they could clone from his current body. If she even mishandled the quintessence once, she could lose that forever and never be able to give Zarkon anything more than a cheap copy._

_————————————— —————————— ————_

_“So, you’ve failed.”_

_“Not quite,” Haggar said, “His physical body is a loss, but I can preserve his quintessence if I act quickly. We can make him a new body and infuse it with his quintessence giving him life once more.”_

_“How soon can you do this?”_

_“I already have my best apprentices preparing as we speak. I warn you, this has a greater chance of failure than success. However, everything else I could do is guaranteed to fail.”_

_———————————— ———————— ———————————_

_Haggar prepared herself as best she could. The quintessence of a particular individual was different than quintessence drawn from crystals or planets. It was more volatile and things could go very wrong because a person’s quintessence was also what many religions in space called the soul. Souls were nothing anyone had much experience with._

_She would have to remedy this at a later date._

_Her apprentices had backed off to allow her to work. This would be the delicate part. Haggar began to chant, and the ground beneath her glowed bright violet. Her hands crackled with energy as she held them over the ravaged body of Prince Lotor. She focused and pulled. His eyes snapped open for the last time as a ball of quintessence flew into her hands, resembling a black ball of flames. This startled her, but the power of the quintessence was also fighting her._

**_Let me go_ ** _it seemed to say vibrating in her hands. She wove the spells binding it to this plane but before she could bind it to a temporary vessel it broke free from her grip and her spells. No! She tried to capture it but it was too late, though bound to this universe and unable to pass on to where souls went after death, it was free from her grasp._

_Zarkon was_ **_not_ ** _going to be pleased with her at all for this._

—————————————— —————————————————

_“His soul was too powerful to contain, I had barely laid the spells the keep him anchored to this plane whenever he escaped me,” Haggar said._

_“You are fortunate that your value to me far outweighs my anger at the moment. Fail again, and there will be severe consequences,” Zarkon said._

_“His soul is still on this plane. In this state, it will seek out a body and the body can be tracked,” Haggar said, “My apprentices have volunteered to dedicate their lives to retrieving it.”_

_“Very well.”_

————————— ——————— ——————————————

**_Nearly 10,000 years later,_ **

_Sarin had searched for nearly ten millennia and no signs of Prince Lotor’s soul, until she crashed onto a muddy little planet that the locals “charmingly” referred to as “Earth.”_

_The signature stung her like an electric shock._ It was here. _On_ ** _this_** _world. Her life’s work, finally realized. She used her illusion to look like a female of the species, and frowned at how old it looked. She hadn’t aged that much, had she? Sarin followed the trail to what appeared to be a primitive sentinel station. A pair of violet eyes looked at her and she knew she had the life form. It appeared to be a child male of its kind, it was upset over something. She waited until he was left alone and stole over to him. She’d need to come back for him later, but he looked like every other alien on this planet. Ah. Right, Haggar had planned for it. Perhaps Sarin_ had _aged more than she thought. She pulled a dagger out of her cloak and offered it to the child._

_“Keep it with you, your highness,” she said. The boy looked at her oddly before she left._

 

_In her haste, Sarin didn’t heed the whistles of the large land bound freight moving vehicle. She should have._

———————————————— ————————————

_If Keith hadn’t had the dagger from the strange lady he’d seen, he’d have thought he made her up. Her and her strange language that he could_ **_swear_ ** _he knew what it meant. Oh, there was Mr. Holmes again: the so-cial worker. The four-year-old was too tired and upset to be dealing with this guy. He wanted to go home._

_—————————————————— —————————————_

_That night, he woke up the other orphans in the orphanage with his screams._


	2. 1: For every dreamer a dream, we’re unstoppable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of facing Zarkon, Keith finds a wounded Shiro on the same planet he and Red have crashed on.  
> After helping save Shiro's life, Keith ends up having odd dreams. Dreams that are oddly intense like _**memories**_ .

****Zarkon had to admit he was impressed by just how viciously the Red Paladin fought. The intensity reminded him of—.

“You fight like a galra soldier.” he said. He had wanted to say, “You fight like my _son_ did.” 

When he captured Voltron, he would have to try to turn the Red Paladin to his side. No sense in attempting to find any more new paladins than necessary. That would be incredibly inefficient. 

——————————— ——————————— —————————

Haggar and her druids worked their spells together and they could _feel_ the wormhole being destabilized. Separate the pieces of Voltron were vulnerable, and separate they should land. It had nearly been scrubbed were it not for Haggar’s experience preventing her former apprentice from ruining things. They rested.

“What was with you Ishael?” she said.

“I felt him,” she said. Haggar's breath caught. There was only one _him_ to whom Ishael could have felt and lost her concentration. Haggar snapped her fingers and a divination circle was drawn. She and Ishael stood in the center. They focused their energies and the quintessence made the circle glow before space sped past them revealing a rocky barren place and a Red Lion. Emerging from the lion was the source. The black-flame quintessence soul tinged red from its connection to the Red Lion, indicating—. 

“Work on finding the other lions, I must report this to Emperor Zarkon,” Haggar said. She walked the short walk down the hallway to the lift which took her to Zarkon’s throne room. The would-be emperor of all, sat in on his throne brooding.

“What are the odds that one of our own is that paladin?” Zarkon asked.

“None,” Haggar said, “I have seen him, and he is the same as the Champion on the outside. However, he is not the same where it matters. I have located Lotor’s soul.” Zarkon pondered this and smirked.

————————————————— ——————————————

Keith limped past his lion. She looked pretty rough, and he was barely able to sense her at all. That’s when he felt a pull like the blue lion but not meaning there was another lion not too far from his position! Keith trudged across the barren landscape to find the Black Lion and a weak Shiro out front of it.

“Shiro!” Keith rushed and checked on his pulse, finding it weak and thready. Keith scrambled to think of any sort of first aid, but it all came up blank when glowing hand prints were involved.

“Keith, if I don’t make it out of this, I want you to lead Voltron,” he said.

“We both know that would be a bad idea,” Keith said, “You’re going to be ok.”

“You’re still bad at lying little brother,” Shiro said. Keith winced. Black let him in so that he could drag out the first aid kit. He let his mind wander. Voltron was supposed to be the ultimate weapon in the universe and Zarkon just ripped them asunder like it was nothing. Did the Black Paladin, _former_ Black Paladin have that much power? If so, why did he even need Voltron. He took down the Red Lion easily enough even as just a Galra versus a giant robotic cat—ouch! Keith looked down to see his hand was hovering over the glowing wound and it had zapped him, but it was glowing less. Keith kept his hand over it and he could feel the flow. It was almost like pulling poison from a wound. He could try it. He focused and while it hurt his arm the purpled energy flowed out until Shiro’s breathing became easier. He fell over from the shock to his own system and —

___________________________________________——— __________________________________________

_Pain, unbelievable pain ripped through his whole being. He saw a pair of yellow eyes with red markings on her blue-violet face. Betrayal, why was she doing this him!_

_— —— ————————————————————————_

_“Long live Altea!” a blast ripped through his chest and he blacked out as a Galra trooper decapitated the man in blue and white with a cannon like blaster in his hands._

_——————— ————————————————————_

_“Mother!” A violet hand reached for a woman with long hair. Her pointed ears revealed she was Altean._

___________ __________________ ___________

Keith snapped out of this strange fit to see the Black Lion was in motion.

“You alright?” Shiro asked. Keith sat up.

“I think whatever that witch hit you with messed with my head,” Keith said shaking said body part. His mother had been human.

“How did you draw that out?” Shiro said.

“I just guessed it was like pulling out poison,” Keith said. His whole right arm hurt as if he had over worked it. 

“Black decided to let me fly her and we picked up Red before getting off that planet. Good thing too, I spotted a Galra cruiser before we took off,” Shiro said.

“And they didn’t chase us?” Keith asked.

“Not yet,” Shiro said, “I hope they won’t, we’re not in any shape to run.” Keith could feel Red’s reassurances and he sat down going over whatever the heck those images were. They sure as hell weren’t Shiro’s memories. Shiro would have never felt betrayed by that Druid witch doing something to him, and that had been an Altean man who shot whoever through the chest. Alteans have been gone for 10,000 years. Why would the druid’s spell show him that? Was it some sort of head game? Because it worked. It almost reminded him of—.

“Sh-o, Come—Shir-.” It was static but it was clearly the Castle of Lions. Allura and Coran! They’d found them.

“Allura! Coran!” 

“Shiro! We have you and the Red Lion on the Radar. Is Keith alright? He’s not answering our hails?” Coran asked.

“He’s fine. Red’s too damaged to fly, so he’s in Black with me and Black’s carrying Red,” Shiro said. A wormhole opened up before them and Shiro dove through  relived to see the Castle on the other side as it shut behind them. He pulled the Black Lion in for a landing and set the Red Lion down gently. 

——————————— —————————————————

“So, Hunk and I were at the bottom of an ocean and there were these totally hot Alien babes—.”

“Who shot Mr. Smooth-Stuff here down in no time flat.”

“Hunk!” Keith ate his food quietly as Shiro and the other two chatted. 

“Where did you to land?” Hunk asked. 

“It was rocky and lifeless,” Keith said, “We were lucky Black wasn’t totaled.”

“What did Black have to carry Red out like a baby?” Lance asked. Keith rolled his eyes. “She totally did!”

“Enough, Keith managed to get me up and moving, but he’s not Hunk or Pidge, which means he can’t do the same to his lion,” Shiro said. Keith’s arm was still sore from it.

“But I wonder how you knew to draw the quintessence out,” Allura said.

“I guess it was like treating a venomous animal bite,” Keith said with a shrug.

“How did you do that?” Lance said.

“It was already trying to zap me, so I just focused on it,” Keith said.

“Does that mean Keith can use quintessence like those druids can?” Hunk asked.

“Maybe, or it could just indicate an increased sensitivity for quintessence,” Coran said stroking his mustache. 

——————————— ———————————— ——————————

When they found Pidge and her little…. _art works_ , everyone was so relieved to see her that they were kind enough not to comment on the scrap “art.” Well, most were,

“Bwhahaha! You totally nailed Mullet’s expression with this!” Lance said pulling out his cellphone and snapping photos of the representations of the others made out of scraps and rocks.

“She certainly managed to give yours the same IQ,” Keith said with a straight face. 

“She sure—hey!” the others burst out laughing and the Red Paladin laughed along too. Lance punched his right shoulder making the whole arm tingle. He must not have hidden his grimace well enough.

“Dude, are you ok?” Lance asked.

“Just a side-effect of that quintessence,” Keith said shaking his arm out. Shiro frowned but said nothing. 

—————————— ————————————— ———————

_“Keep up with me, slow-poke!” He raced after a girl with white hair and pink marks under her eyes. She fell and began crying and he began to cry a little too, not sure what to do. Then her Daddy came over and began to sooth her. His Daddy came too, towering over everyone but he wasn’t scary. He was Daddy! He smiled up at his father who smiled back and crouched down to ruffle his white hair into his eyes. Out of the shadows he could see his Daddy’s face clearly—_

—————— ————————— ————————

Keith sat up panting. Zarkon! Why was he dreaming about a child of Zarkon? It was better than the recurring dream of whoever memories these were’s death, like the last six nights, but it was still unsettling to see Zarkon.

 That little girl she was—He had to find out. Keith padded out of his room, and found Allura was alone in the room were her father’s holographic consciousness once was.

“Oh, Keith. What are you doing up at this hour?” Allura said.

“I could ask you the same,” Keith said.

“It’s silly, really. I just feel closer to him here even though it was never really him here in the first place,” Allura said. Keith looked down.

“You have something on your mind?” Allura said.

“I’ve been having strange nightmares, well not nightmares but dreams since I helped Shiro,” Keith said.

“And your arm’s been bothering you too,” Allura noted. Keith winced, “What kind of dreams?”

“I think they’re someone else’s memories because the first one is them dying. It feels like everything is being ripped from me,” Keith said. Allura placed a hand over her mouth.

“How long have you been having this dream?”

“Since I was a child,” Keith admitted, “It started after my parents died.”

“Any other dreams?” 

 

“Tonight had a little girl who looked like you in it and Zarkon was there with I think it was your father,” Keith said, “You were crying.” Allura gasped.

“I was playing with Zarkon’s son that day. Our mothers had been friends,” Allura said.

“Was she a galra?” Keith asked.

“No. Before Zarkon betrayed Voltron, betrayed Altea, he’d been considered a great ally as both the Black Paladin and husband of one of the best Altean pilots outside of the Paladins. His son was half-Altean. He died shortly before Coran and I were sealed,” Allura said, “He’d been my friend.”

“What was his name?” Keith asked. He was almost afraid to hear it.

“It was—.” The proximity alert we set off. Keith and Allura raced to the control room to see Coran already there and Lance sliding in, face mask still on, and eye mask slid up on top of his head, but his armor was on. Hunk stumbled in next with Pidge and Shiro on his heals, both of them in armor. Hunk mostly in his armor. 

“Status report?” Allura asked.

“With Pidge and Hunk’s help, the Lions are in fighting shape. The Castle is not,” Coran said.

“We’re going to need to—.”

“Form Voltron.” the Paladins said in chorus along with Allura who gave them all a withering look. Keith bolted for his room and was pulling is armor on as he ran to get to his hanger. 

The others were already out but his lion was fastest, he would catch up. He slid into his controls and Red roared. 

“Let’s go, girl,” Keith said before he pressed the controls forwards and rocketed out into space.

—————————— ———————————— —————————— 

Keith dodged laser fire and returned fire with the primary laser of his lion while Lance froze over other parts of the Galra Star Cruiser. Red took a direct hit which caused Keith to be violently thrown into another flash.

—————— ——————————————— ———

_He was in a craft in which the panels were lit up violet. He was facing heavy fire. Why were they being like this! He had to make them see that this was for the best!_

——————————— ——————————— ——

“—eith! Keith!” Keith snapped out of it and barely avoided being captured. He took out a few smaller fighters. 

“Let’s form Voltron!” Shiro yelled. Keith narrowed his eyes and focused. Voltron formed but it didn’t feel like it normally did. They were barely able to do the one attack they needed before it all fell a part. Keith knew it was him but he had no idea what was going on with him.  The Galra were retreating but Team Voltron was hesitant to call _that_ a victory. 

 

“Keith, what’s going on with you?” Shiro asked once they were all in the hanger.

“I don’t know.” Keith grabbed his head as he fought off another flash. 

“What’s happening?” Lance asked.

“Keith’s been like this since he managed to take the quintessence out of my wound,” Shiro said.

“Is it possible that whatever they meant to do to you is now affecting Keith?” Pidge said.

“What can we do?” Hunk asked. Keith collapsed just as Allura and Coran arrived.

“Something’s wrong with Keith!” Lance said.

“I know,” Allura said, “It didn’t seem to be this bad before.” She picked Keith up and held him as if he weighed nothing to her and everyone went to the medbay. He was placed in a cyropod and Coran began to run an analysis on the unconscious Red Paladin.

“Can you think of what curse they had tried to give you?” Allura asked Shiro.

“I had some pretty bad flashes of memory from when I was…but why would this affect Keith that badly? His past wasn’t the greatest but it shouldn’t be enough to cause this,” Shiro said.

“Keith has a past?” Lance asked.

“Keith lost his parents when he was four and bounced around foster families until he ended up with mine,” Shiro said, “Some of the other families had been….bad, but not so bad to be traumatic this many years later.” 

“Maybe it’s screwing up because it was meant for you and that energy is in Keith?” Pidge said.

—————————— ————————— ————————————————————

 _Haggar snarled with frustration. Even with a weakened Voltron, they were unable to win. No matter, she would have to devise a particularly useful Robobeast in the mean time. Yet, she also needed to get that Paladin. That vile lesser flesh form was a_ **_disgrace_ ** _. But she’d need some tests to make sure transferring a soul was possible beyond a simple Robeast conversion. Yes, more data was needed. Hmmm. That_ **_could_ ** _be interesting._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is no way Lance _didn't_ have his cellphone on him whenever they found the Blue Lion. Ergo, though he is WAY out of service, chances are he'd snap pictures of things every now and then.


	3. Chapter 2: Every night has its day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a brief scare, Coran figures out the root of Keith's problems and there's nothing he can do to fix it. It's not quite so bad, if it weren't for the flashes Keith keeps having.  
> And now there's crazy priest talking about "other lives."

****Keith emerged from the cyropod with a stumble. Lance and Hunk caught him.

“You feeling alright?” Lance asked. Keith shook his head. This time there had been pain and then a whole horrible void replaying.

“Keith, we scanned the others and it would appear whatever that extra quintessence was has messed with your own inner essence and made it clash with your body, so to speak. It’s made the wavelengths almost…harmful to you,” Coran said.

“What?”

“Everyone has quintessence in them and its unique for every person. It’s what most people call a soul and your consciousness is tied to it, so I guess it’s simpler to call it that. Anyway something the witch did has made it so Keith’s soul is out of synch with his body,” Coran said, “Frankly, the signature isn’t anything like you four, though you are hardly a standard we could you to establish human norms. Yet, because you’re all within a few megahertz in frequency, I can safely assume most are like you.”

“What’s the closest match?” Keith asked after a few moments.

“Within what data we have in the computer, it has some patterns in common with Alteans and some in common with Galra,” Coran said.

“How?” Allura said.

“I don’t know. But it’s a powerful soul and it is harming Keith,” Coran said.

“Shouldn’t this be impossible?” Pidge said.

“No one really knows much about the nature of the soul,” Coran said. It was Shiro’s turn to have a flash and the memories drove him to his knees.

“Shiro!” the others said.

“The Galra have been experimenting with souls,” Shiro said, “When I—.” he stopped and clenched his metal fist. “They were doing terrible experiments.”

“So you think they were trying to do whatever is wrong with Keith to you?” Allura said.

“I’m afraid I have to disagree,” Coran said tapping a holoscreen and pulling up Keith’s baseline scan. “Keith’s soul has always been odd for his body, but it wasn’t until now that this was a problem.”

——————————— ———————— —————————

Keith was annoyed with how the others were treating him as if he would shatter. He was fine. Sure, he kept getting flashes, but otherwise he was ok.

“Keith! We found a planet to land on. It’s safe, so we’re going to go to a market to get supplies,” Shiro said entering Keith’s room. Keith nodded. He made sure he had his dagger on him. It made him feel safer. Some people had security blankets while Keith had his dagger. He walked out and ignored the glances the others were shooting him. The market looked disappointingly ordinary. The only difference was the fact aliens manned the stalls and the stalls were made of metal. Otherwise it was very reminiscent of a human farmer’s market. Allura and Coran were doing most of the ordering while Lance was goofing off. Keith laughed after Lance had accidentally swallowed a bug during whatever moves he was doing to impress an alien he was flirting with. Hunk was doubled over and Pidge was leaning against Hunk to keep upright. The flash came on him without warning.

—————— —————— —————

_His training squadron was mostly pure Galra cadets, but there was one other cross-breed aside from himself there. It was another Half-Altean. Sinecline, he was called. They got on well enough, but Sinecline was intimidated by who his Father was. That was until the day they were running around a field on Drule and one of the other cadets slipped in some mud sending their whole squadron into the muck. After staring at one another for a few moments, everyone began to laugh at how ridiculous the others looked. Even their drill instructor laughed a little._

_“Alright, pilots, get up and keep running!”_

———————————— —————————— ——————————

Keith shook his head and saw the others hadn’t noticed this one. Good. He looked around and he could have sworn he saw a flash of purple. He was hallucinating. Probably caused by whatever knocked his quintessence out of sync.

“You have been gifted another life!” Keith looked at the alien who said that.

“What?” Keith asked. It sounded a bit like his Father’s religious beliefs. From the number of the armadillo humanoids running around, Keith concluded this was a native and that was their religion.

“You must come with me, Guardian of Fire!” he said.

“How did you know?” Keith asked.

“You carry the sacred weapon,” the little alien said. Keith remembered his bayard strapped to his thigh and nodded.

“Where?” Keith asked.

“To the temple,” the alien said pointing to a large building that wasn’t too far away.

“Can I come too?” They turned to see Hunk was there.

“Of course, Guardian of the Earth,” the alien said. The little guy looked positively delighted.

“Hey guys! Keith and I are going to that temple!” Hunk yelled. Shiro looked up and nodded before he realized he’d lost sight of Lance and dashed into the crowd. The Alien looked at them and Hunk and Keith just shrugged.

“What’s your name?” Hunk asked.

“I am Farkooshk, Guardian of Earth.” Keith tuned out the small talk to observe more of the city around the market and the temple. It looked a little like a smaller Japanese city with the level of technology whizzing through the air but the Temple was old and made of stone and crystals. The closer they got to the temple, the less modern architecture there was until there was a noticeable gaps of any sort of building. Even the hover-vehicles didn’t fly anywhere near the temple’s airspace. It was almost like being transported back in time.

“This way, Guardians of the Earth and Fire,” Farkooshk said leading them down a hallway. Others like him were dressed in traditional robes that reminded Keith of Buddhist monks, but with a sort of space-y flair and bright colors.

——————— ———————— ———————

They were led to a massive chamber, and Keith had the feeling he and Hunk shouldn’t be there.

“Are we supposed to be here?” Hunk voicing Keith’s thoughts.

“Ordinarily, non-initiates are forbidden from entering this sanctum, but we owe a lot to the Guardians of Spirit, Forest, Water, Fire, and Earth,” Farkooshk said. Keith nodded absently as he looked around. In the center of the sanctum was a massive crystal, bigger than the crystal that powered the Castle Ship.

“That is the Many Facets of Truth. Our Order’s most sacred relic. It is said, the lucky few who have lived before can view their past lives in the crystal’s faces.”

“Past lives, like reincarnation?” Hunk said, “That sounds amazing! I wonder who I was in a past life?”

“I’m afraid your soul is new, Guardian of Earth,” Farkooshk said, “But the Guardian of Fire, on the other hand…”

“Keith, you’re reincarnated? Maybe that’s why you’re having those flashy things,” Hunk said. Keith shrugged.

“Maybe,” Keith said. He glanced at the crystal and leapt back. His reflection! It changed back to his proper reflection with distance but—.

“What did you see?” Farkooshk said. Keith took a breath and calmed himself and approached the crystal again, his reflection warping and changing the closer he walked. It looked taller and the hair was white, but his eyes were still violet, but so was his skin. His ears were pointed, like Allura’s and there were blue marks under his eyes like an Altean’s. His fingers had claws. His eyes were like Allura’s whenever she’d been shifted into a Galra. Half-Altean.Half-Galra. This had to be a mistake. Keith took several steps back and this time the reflection didn’t change back. He felt a sudden pain in his chest. Just like—

———————————— ———————————— —————————

Hunk saw Keith collapse clutching his chest.

“He’s reliving his past life’s death!” Farkooshk said.

“How do we snap him out of this?” Hunk asked.

“If we do that, your friend could wake up thinking he’s his past-self,” Farkooshk said. Hunk nearly snapped at him, but he was distracted by Keith screaming before waking up and holding his head between his hands.

“Keith? Buddy?” Keith looked up at Hunk and the Yellow Paladin felt like someone had slipped ice down his shirt. There was no recognition in those violet eyes. Keith’s eyes rolled into his head and Hunk caught the Red Paladin this time.

“Thanks for this but we’ve got to go,” Hunk said politely, but firmly. As he rushed past, he could have sworn Keith looked a bit purple in the crystal’s reflection. Nah!

—————————————— —————————————— ————————

“What happened?” Shiro asked.

“Keith and I were shown this massive crystal and Keith collapsed because the guy thinks Keith’s a reincarnation of someone,” Hunk said.

“Why did Keith collapse?” Allura asked.

“The priest guy said Keith relived his past life’s death,” Hunk said.

“A sensory overload from a powerful memory could be too much to process,” Coran said.

“Before he collapsed a second time, after waking up screaming, he didn’t recognize me,” Hunk said.

“We’ll have to monitor him carefully when we get him back to the ship,” Allura said.

“You won’t be going anywhere, criminals.” The conscious members of Team Voltron pivoted to see a group a Galra and their droids had appeared because why not. They were already down _one_ paladin.

“Take Keith and run,” Shiro ordered.

“Not exactly possible,” Hunk said. They had been surrounded. Hunk shifted to the center of the group as everyone else got ready to fight their way out.Shiro faced the largest group of Galra while Coran faced the second largest. Lance faced down droids and Allura faced down the Galra flaking them. Pidge was in the middle with Hunk and Keith.

The Galra threw the fist punches and the others in the market had long since fled. Hunk felt Keith stir and before he could blink, the Red Paladin had charged the line next to Shiro, bayard out and trying to create an opportunity for escape.Lance shot the last droid before aiming his bayard up. Keith looked up and dragged Shiro back as a crate of something smashed down on the Galra giving them an opening for escape.

———————— ————————————————

As Shiro piloted the shuttle back to the Castle Ship, they found that there was only a small Galra ship in orbit.

“We don’t even need all the lions for that!” Lance said.

“Think you can take it, then?” Shiro said.

“I don’t know, what do you think, mullet?” Lance asked. Keith didn’t respond. When they docked it was Lance who suited up and flew the blue lion to take down the ship with ease.

“I’m going back down to get the supplies,” Shiro said.

“I’ll go with you,” Coran said, “Make sure they gave us the right things.” Keith was siting where he’d been led to just staring at his hands.

“Keith?” He looked up and blankly stared at Shiro.

“I’ll help him to the med bay,” Allura said offering Keith her hand. Keith took it after a moment.

———————————— ———————————— —————————————

His mind was scrambled. He had no idea where he was or who any of these people were and why were they calling him “Keith?” Was that his name? His hands seemed wrong. Everything around him seemed wrong. He _felt_ wrong. The one leading him was vaguely familiar but the others seemed to be the ones he was supposed to recognize? Especially the tall one with the metal arm. He knew he probably should know him but nothing came to mind.

“Stay right there,” the woman said. She typed in a few commands on the console and a laser scanned him.

“There are no physical injuries,” she said, “What can you remember? Can you speak?”

“Yes,” he said. He blinked. That wasn’t the right language from the look on the woman’s face. He tried again,

“Yes?” This one was better, because he reaction was less confused.

“What is your last memory?” she asked.

“I don’t have one,” he said.

“Why do you keep staring at your hands?”

“Because they’re wrong.”

“Wrong? How?”

“I-I’m not sure.” He shook his head.

“Come with me,” the woman said before she lead him to a wall and she placed a hand on it. It glowed and became reflective. He jumped whenever he realized it was a mirror and that was his reflection. The face he stared at couldn’t have been his, could it? His eyes seemed normal, maybe? No, not quite but the irises were at least the right color.

“Is there anything correct?”

“My irises,” he said.

“Would you be alright with us calling you “Keith?”” she asked. He blinked. It couldn’t hurt. He nodded his head.

“I’m Allura,” she said, “And this is the Castle of Lions. You’re the Red Paladin of Voltron.” Paladin? He flinched whenever an image of a large figure in black forced its way to the forefront of his mind for a moment.

“Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” he said. Allura led him through the Castle and he had the strangest feeling he’d been here before, and maybe he had if he was a Paladin, like she claimed. There were others waiting for him.

“Are you alright?” The large one in yellow asked.

“I’m not injured,” he said.

“Despite not having any injuries, he doesn’t remember anything,” Allura said.

“I’m Pidge!” the girl in green said.

“I’m Hunk.” the large one in yellow sort of did a strange salute.

“I’m Lance. Are you sure you don’t remember me at all?” the last male in the room said.

“Should I?”

“He’s still Keith, even without his memories,” Lance said flatly. Were they not friends?

“You two sort of have a friendly rivalry going on,” Hunk said.

“Keith, are you feeling better?” he turned to see it was the tall one with the white forelock.

“His memories are toast, but he’s here,” Lance said.

“Lance! Show some tact!”

“I guess you need me to reintroduce myself. I’m Shiro,” the tall one said. He nodded,

“Allura tells me I’m called “Keith.””

“No memories, great jumping garafalos! Hello! I’m Coran,” it was another like Allura. he nodded to them. He supposed until he remembered whatever name felt right, he could accept Keith as his name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween!  
> Sorry for the wait, but I realized I was a bit too post happy with the previous chapter and so Mondays will be the night that this fic will update from here on out.  
> At the time of posting I _did_ have everything written through the conclusion, but it turns out I didn't **_like_** what I had written. So, I scrapped my last three chapters and decided to rewrite them. I am still in that process of re-writing them. This story might end up with its original chapter length, or it might end up longer.  
>  I haven't figured that out yet, but I know how it will end, having written a version of the ending before.


	4. Chapter 3: Where there’s a will there’s a way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes turning it off and back on again is the best thing to do, even for something as complex as the human brain.

_Haggar frowned at the experiments in front of her. The cloned vessels just weren’t taking to the souls as well as she would have hoped. The results always ended up dead or little better than the base for a Robeast. She was at least better able to keep the souls under her control. Perhaps…. Yes. That and it would be much more efficient. Initiating it would be difficult, but, Zarkon’s patience was growing thin._

————————————— ————— ——————

Keith stared at his reflection, trying to will himself to recognize anything beyond the color of his eyes. The shape of his jaw seemed a little familiar but he tilted his head and the eyes were almost the right shape, but the color of his skin was off. That much he was sure about. Yet he was also starting to feel like this was his reflection after all. He closed his eyes and cleared his mind of thoughts. He tried to recall anything before coming to in that market and he felt a flash of hot pain explode behind his eyes.

—————— —————————————— ———————

**_Why were the lowering his Mother into the ground. Why was everyone sad? Mother!_ **

_——————— —————————— ———————— ———_

_No! His parents were in that car! He had to get them out, he had to!_

_——————— ———————— ——————— ————————_

**_A large figure held him close. He felt safe. Secure. Nothing could hurt him while his Father held him._ **

_—————— —————— ————— ——————— ————_

_He was swung between his parents who smiled down at him, their black hair blown about in the wind like his._

_——————— —————— ————— —————————_

**_He saw a man with white hair in blue and white armor across from him on the battle field. His friend. Why was he shifted to look fully Altean?_ **

**_“Sin—.” Pain through his chest._ **

**_“Long live Altea!”_ **

_—————— ——————— ————————_

_The Osterman’s had told him he lost his parents because he deserved it. The Smith’s had just treated him like broken glass. This was nothing compared to what the Coopers’ had done, especially after they found his dagger. He dreaded the Shirogane’s. Whenever the wife arrived she had a boy with her. A son. Great another kid to help his parents hurt him. The son was teenager. He walked over and offered him a hand._

_“I’m Takashi, your new big brother.” He didn’t want to hope, but looking into Takashi's eyes, he felt like he’d maybe found someone to trust after his parents died._

_——————— ———————— —————_

**_Muddled voices and then blinding pain that wrenched him back to alertness. He saw—why would she do this to him! Everything faded out in agony._ **

_—————————— ———————— ———————_

_“….due to pilot error.” The world faded out to the agony he felt. No. Not his big brother. He was the best pilot to ever come out of the Garrison, there was no way this was pilot error! No!_

_—————————— ————————— ——————————_

Keith screamed and punched the wall. His memories were back but he had a bunch of extra ones crowding his head too. He looked at his hand and it seemed both normal to him and yet wrong. This was giving him a headache.

“Keith?” he turned to see it was Shiro.

“Shiro.” Shirt’s face lit up.

“You’re back!” Shiro hugged him

“I think I need to get my hand looked at,” Keith said holding up his bloodied hand. Shiro shook his head,

“Why must you punch everything?”

“Usually seems to work,” Keith said with a weak smile. They exited his room and Lance fell on the floor from where he’d been eavesdropping.

“So, you’re back to your self? What a tragedy!” Lance said.

“We’ll get a chance to bond another time,” Keith said.

“Oh, so because Hunk cradled you in his arms you two bonded?” Lance said. Hunk nodded.

“You wouldn’t understand, Lance,” Hunk said shaking his head.

——————————— ———————————— —————

“While the frequency is better it’s still slightly off,” Coran said after Keith had been scanned again, and his hand tended to, “Perhaps blanking everything out was what you needed.”

“What can you remember from these other flashes?” Allura asked.

“I don’t know _who_ it was but he was half-Altean. He was also half-Galra. He was killed by someone he knew who was also half and half,” Keith said rubbing the side of his chest where the _other_ had been shot in the memory.

“What if really Keith _is_ reincarnated like that priest claimed?” Hunk said. Everyone turned to look at Hunk.

“Then I guess this would be the first documented case where we have scientific evidence for it,” Pidge said, “With how Keith’s frequencies don’t quite line up with ours.”

“Before you say it’s crazy, how else would you have memories that aren’t yours?” Shiro said, “That spell was meant to dredge up old painful memories, and I doubt anything’s more painful than dying.”

“But I’ve had that nightmare for years,” Keith said, “The rest of it was new.”

“Anything else?” Lance said.

“I— **he** was a pilot. He fought _against_ Altea. His friend, another half-Altean, killed him. No. He shot him. A druid witch killed him but I think I- **he** was already dying. He was shocked when the witch killed him. I— **he** felt betrayed,” Keith said, “Are you alright Allura?”

“Do you still remember that memory you were telling me about?” Keith blinked. There was a vague image of a child Allura playing with his— _with the other_ and—. He grabbed his head, both from pain of fighting off another flash, and because of the shock.

“You knew his past life,” Hunk said. 

“I think I did. Keith, does the name “Lotor” ring any bells for you?” Keith’s eyes rolled up into his head and he slumped forwards, Hunk and Lance caught him and lowered him to the floor carefully.

“Lotor?” Shiro asked.

“Prince Lotor. Our mothers were friends,” Allura said before she walked over to the computer and found a few files that hadn’t gone with her father’s AI. It was of them as adults but it would have to do. She projected it.

“He looks like you do when—.”

“Yes. He always wished he’d ended up more Galran but, he was stronger than he looked. He could shift to look more Altean, but after his mother died when we were small, he never would,” Allura said.

“So, if the Prince part didn’t come from Altea, did it come from the Galra?” Lance asked.

“Yes, but he wasn’t always a Prince. That title came after Zarkon turned on Altea and took over the Galra home world,” Allura said.

“Zarkon’s his father, right?” They looked at Pidge, “It’s the only reason you’d dance around who Lotor was like that.”

“Yes. Lotor's father was Zarkon,” Allura said. Shiro studied the image.

“He still sort of looks like Keith. Maybe in a few years whenever he’s grown up a little, but I could believe that he’s related to Keith,” Shiro said.

“Same eyes,” Lance said, “Maybe that was a clue? Humans normally don’t have violet eyes.”

“Really? Fascinating,” Coran said.

“So, Keith’s the reincarnation of Zarkon’s…son. Keith really _does_ fight like a Galra,” Hunk said. Lance let out a disgusted snort.

“It’s not wonder he’s such a good pilot! His past life could already fly. He totally cheated!”

“Actually, Lotor had always been a gifted pilot. His mother, Kiara, had been one of the best pilots Altea has ever seen outside the Paladins,” Coran said. Lance deflated,

“Still say that’s a cheat.”

————————— ————————— ———————

Keith opened his eyes and found himself back in his room. Shiro and the others were crowded around his bed.

“Do you know who we are?”

“Yes, what happened?” Keith asked sitting up.

“Do you remember punching the wall?” Shiro asked. Keith blinked and shook his head. Though, that _did_ sound like him.

“We’ve pretty much determined that the crazy priest guy was right,” Hunk said. Keith looked at him before everything hit him like a jumbled mess, including the extra memories.

“—eith! Keith!” He snapped out of it and looked up at Shiro,

“I’m still me,” he said, “There’s just a lot in here.”

“That must be a change,” Lance said.

“You’d have no problem at with this happening with all that extra space,” Keith deadpanned. Lance nodded before he realized he’d been insulted.

“Think any of what you remember is useful?” Pidge asked hopefully. Keith shook his head.

“It’s been 10,000 years. I doubt much of anything in my…..memories is useful,” he said.

“It was worth a shot,” Pidge said.

“He can use Galra tech,” Lance said. That’s right, he could.

“I opened a door on the Balmera with my hand,” Keith said.

“Interesting. I wonder why?” Pidge said.

“Well, we need to get something productive done today. Every meet me in the training room in ten,” Shiro said. The other paladins groaned but ran do to as told.

“Keith, feeling up to fighting?” Shiro asked. Keith nodded. He needed to get back to training. He was feeling antsy. He got up and followed them out, his dagger securely on his belt.

————————— ———————————— ———————————

_“You know your mission?” Haggar stared down the bounty hunter she’d hired. She hadn’t wanted to resort to this scum but time was of the essence._

_“Of course, get the sample and get it back to you.”_

_“Then I’ll need you to hit the target again.”_

_“That’ll cost you extra.”_

_“Consider it done. Do we have a deal?”_

_“You drive a hard bargain.”_

_“If the target ends up dead, you will long for death before I am finished, do I make myself clear?”_

_“Crystal.”_

——————————————— ——————— ————————

“That’s a mine alright,” Shiro said as the scans appeared on the screen.

“Think Matt might be here?” Pidge asked.

“Prisoners are usually split three ways: the mines, the games, and the Druids. I’m mostly sure Matt wasn’t with me in the games or at the Druids meaning he has to be in the mines. Even if they’re not here, we could find a databank to hack into,” Shiro said. Pidge nodded.

“If we free this planet, we’ll draw a lot of attention to us,” Keith said, “Are we ready for that?”

“Are you?” Shiro asked. Keith nodded.

“You’re not going to space out on us again?” Lance asked. Keith rolled his eyes,

“I haven’t had a memory bother me in a week,” he said.

“He’s also been useful with translating stuff,” Pidge said.

“You can read Altean?” Allura asked. Keith looked off to the side and nodded, blushing a little from embarrassment.

“Dude, that’s totally another cheat!” Lance said.

“Another cheat?” Keith said.

“First you were a pilot in a past life, and now you skip ahead of everyone in their Altean!” Lance said.

“I didn’t cheat to become a pilot!” Keith said.

“Sure about that?” Lance said.

“Enough!” Allura said, “I think we should get ready for this mission, don’t you?”

—————— —————————— ————————

Keith was getting sick of how weird the others were treating him since they found out about _that_.

 _I wonder how they’d react to the fact I remembered how to read Galran and speak it too_. He approached Red who gave him a comforting nudge.

“You knew the whole time, didn’t you?” he said. Red gave him a confirmation and he could sense she didn’t care at all. He was still her paladin. Her little cub.

“Thanks, Red.” He climbed in.

“My piloting skills in this life aren’t because of my past life, are they?” Red seemed to laugh at him. Keith just groaned before he piloted Red out into open space.

———————— —————————— —————

 _This would be tricky if the target never left that lion, but there seemed to be something else going on with the other lions. Capturing a lion would get him in better graces with Lord Zarkon, but managing to take in all five of Voltron would be impossible, even for him. He was just going to have to watch and wait. If he was a group of do-gooders fighting, futilely, against the Galra Empire, what might he be doing_ **_here,_ ** _above a mining planet? Oh, it would be the perfect set up. He laid in a course for the far side of the planet. He had some work to do, and not a lot of time to do it in._

_He thrived on challenges like this. Delivery of goods afterwards was always so much more rewarding._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Monday Night, Monday Morning....same difference.  
> Let's just call the update schedule whenever I want it to be on Monday.
> 
> The memory loss wasn't permanent.  
> In abnormal psych, this is psychogenic amnesia brought on by the trauma of reliving his past life's death, and all the other memories of a past life trying to force their way into his head.  
> His poor brain needed time to sort the memories.  
> What will the poor reincarnated Paladin deal with next? Find out next week.  
> Thanks for Reading  
> -MP


	5. Chapter 4: Monday left me broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of the Lost is found.

****Being the fastest flier had its drawbacks. For one, that meant his Lion had the least armor, except for maybe the Green Lion. For another, it also meant he was used for drawing fire and for quick strikes. Though, he also had some more bite. He drew the fighter out into deeper space away from the main orbital base while Hunk and Lance waited for them. The Blue lion froze them while the Yellow Lion manifested a larger version of Hunk’s canon and obliterated the drones before they heard Shiro’s signal. They formed Voltron, this time things went more smoothly. Keith found himself slightly in one of his past memories and partly in the moment as he executed a particularly tricky maneuver.

“Holy Quiznak! When did you learn to do that?” Keith blink and realized the move had completely destroyed the offensive capabilities of the space station. The Base wormholed out rather than continue to face Voltron.

“I didn’t know they could do that,” Hunk said.

“If the Castle can wormhole, that thing can too,” Pidge said.

“But it was the size of a small moon,” Hunk said.

“Good work, Team, let’s land and take care of any forces still on the ground,” Shiro said before they broke back into their lions.

“Scans show that there are two main control facilities on the planet,” Coran said, “Based on the signals they send and their size.”

“We’ll need to split into two groups,” Shiro said, “I need to be in one.”

“I’ll need to be in the other,” Keith said.

“I’m going with Keith. Hunk needs to go with Shiro,” Pidge said.

“What about me?” Lance asked.

“You’re free to go with whichever group,” Shiro said.

“I think I’ll stick with you,” Lance said.

“We’ll take the Northern command then,” Pidge said as Keith turned his lion towards the Northern base. They faced some resistance by after raking the area with their lions’ lasers the ground troops were sent running. They were mostly droids anyway. Keith was out of his lion blade swinging and blocking blasts with his shield as he and Pidge made a break for the doors, which he’d destroyed with Red.

“Somewhere on this first floor is the control center,” Pidge said. Keith nodded as he looked at the wall signs in Galran and found the one indicating which way the command was.

“This way,” he said pointing to the correct hallway. Thank goodness written Galran hadn’t evolved in 10,000 years. Pidge looked at him oddly before they ran down the halls and kept their guard up. Keith saw the control room was locked but there was a keypad next to it.

“Pidge, do your thing.” Keith said as he stood guard. After a few moments Pidge had managed to hack her war into the room and Keith immediately had to block more blaster fire before he charged forwards and slashed one the technicians across the chest and bashed another with his shield. Pidge took out the two with her bayard’s stun function. Pidge stared at the many displays and glanced at Keith.

“See anything useful on any of these?” she asked, “I noticed you reading the signs.” Keith studied the screens and found a keyboard. He input a command and received an error. Damn, the computers had definitely advanced. He stood aside for Pidge to get access first.

“Now try searching for my father or Matt,” Pidge said as she prepared to download the data into her laptop, which she’d brought with her for this express purpose. Keith nodded before he converted Sam and Matt’s names to Galran versions as best he could. It took a third try to get any sort of results.

“Nothing on Samuel Holt in this computer, but Matt’s here. He’s at the Southern mine, though,” Keith said, “Did you get that Shiro?”

“I did. We’re freeing the miners now! Get whatever data you can and then work on freeing people.”

“Understood,” Keith said. Keith searched for anything useful and pulled up the files.

“Download these,” Keith said, “I’m not much of a tech person but they’re schematics to a lot of Galra tech and stuff.”

“It’s now officially awesome you were evil in a past life,” Pidge said.

“I wasn’t evil, just happened to listen to my Father too much, I think.”

—————————————————————— —————

Keith and Pidge took out the guards and their droids as they fought their way down through the complex and made it to the pens where the enslaved miners were kept.

“There’s a group still in the mines!” one of the freed prisoners said.

“I’m on it,” Keith said running forwards and blocking blaster fire from a few overseers and seeing other miners throwing things and helping take out the galra. He looked around and saw what he was looking for: an emergency evacuation alarm. It had a hand scanner to activate it and he placed his hand on it, which made a fleeing Galra soldier stop and stare at the Red Paladin before an escaping miner punched him out.

“Help!” Keith ran towards the sound and saw a pinned miner under what looked like a broken hover cart. Keith went to grab an edge but sliced open his hand. He found and non-sharp edge and flipped the cart off.

“You alright?” The alien took Keith’s offered hand and he winced whenever he realized he’d offered his sliced hand.

“Many thanks,” the alien said holding on tightly as they stood up.Whenever Keith let got he had to shake his hand out.

“Strong grip you have there,” he said. He listened for any other footsteps and ran outside where Pidge and the freed prisoners had the Galra soldiers surrounded.

——————————— ———————— ——————

Keith wrapped his hand in a bandage once he made a pit stop back to Red for his first aid kit. Disinfecting it had hurt like a _soih_ but it wasn’t worth the risk of an infection. Wait a second. Great, now he was remembering Galra swears.

“How many of you are pilots?” Keith asked the crowd. He received many blank stares. Right. He found a prisoner who looked vaguely Galran.

“Do they all understand Galran?” Keith asked.

“Out of habit,” the prisoner said. Keith sighed and coughed before trying again,

“How many of you are pilots?” He received stares for his use of Galran from the Galra they had captive but he didn’t care. There were a few hands here and there.

“Follow me,” Keith said. He led them into the complex and followed the signs to the hanger bays. There were a few large shuttles meant for hauling their loads back to the empire, but they seemed like they could also haul the freed miners to freedom.

“Will this work?” Keith asked one of the pilots, it was the the Galra looking prisoner.

“It will, Paladin. How does an alien like yourself speak this language?”

“It’s a long story,” Keith said.

————————————————————— ————————— ———————————

_It had almost been too easy to acquire the target’s blood. These Paladins of Voltron were far too trusting of beings posing as prisoners of the Galra. He slipped back to his ship with very little problems; the real prisoners were too busy celebrating their freedom to take heed of what he was doing. He took off and called the Witch._

_“I have your sample,” he said._

_“Send me your coordinates and I’ll open a wormhole,” Haggar said._

_“Not yet. No need to tip off Voltron,” he said. He navigated behind a planet and sent in his position and the wormhole opened as planned. He arrived outside the main fleet and a drone arrived to escort him to the proper hanger. Haggar was waiting for him and held out her hand for the sample._

_“Wait here,” she said. He saw her hurry away and then return a few moments later with a dart full of a dark red serum._

_“Shoot the Red Paladin with this, and confirm the hit and I will give you the rest of your payment,” Haggar said, “I will open you another worm hole right back.”_

_“Of course.”_

————————————————————— ——————————————

Keith and Pidge went through the base more thoroughly this time with some help of a few free prisoners and managed to raid a few corrupt officials in charge of the facility’s accounts to furnish each shuttle with some GAC to help them on their way through the mostly Galra dominated galaxy. Keith snooped through one of the offices and found a holo picture of a galra and his family. The woman was actually taller than him and had longer fangs than him. Her fur was a deeper purple. Their child was a ball of fur. It was easy to forget that the other side had families too. Even Zarkon has one once….Keith shook his head.

That was not his life. Not this time.

“Find anything interesting?” Keith jumped and saw it was the prisoner he’d helped out from under that cart.

“Nothing so far,” Keith said, “Excuse me.” Keith walked past him and felt something jab him in the neck. He dropped to his knees as he lost sensation in his limbs.

“I prefer not to have a chance of missing this shot.” He could sort of feel the next jab of pain in the other side of his neck.The hallway swam and whenever he regained control of his limbs the “prisoner” was gone. He pulled something out of his neck: it was a large dart and it was empty of whatever was in it. He used to wall to stand up. The room was still spinning a little.

“Keith, are you ok?” He turned his head to see it was Pidge.

“I think I need to get to the ship,” Keith said holding out the dart.

—————————— ——————————— ———————

“Talk about gratitude,” Lance said with everyone in the med bay. Keith was no longer dizzy and neither neck puncture needed bandaging. Pidge was standing in front of Matt’s pod as it worked to undo a lot of the damage working in the mines had done.

“It was probably a bounty hunter or something,” Shiro said, “Why didn’t he take you?”

“I’m not sure. He hit me with this thing,” he said offering the dart to Allura who looked at it before handing it to Coran.

“There might be traces of whatever was in here,” Coran said. He walked over to a machine and carefully opened up the dart and swabbed it with a probe from the machine and inserted it. The data made him frown.

“What was in that?” Shiro asked.

“Traces of Keith’s blood and a different blood type that carried indicators of Garla and Altean genotypes and a lot of chemicals I’ve never seen used like this before,” Coran said.

“Is it a virus?” Keith asked.

“Not exactly, but if you feel even the slightest bit off, I expect you to tell me,” Coran said. Keith nodded. The opening of a pod drew everyone’s attention.

“Katie?” Matt’s groggy voice said.

“Matt!” Pidge threw her arms around his neck, and he just stared at the room and his jaw dropped when he saw the Alteans.

“Are those really—.”

“Hello, Matt. I’m Allura,” Allura said offering a hand. Matt took it weakly.

“I’m Coran,” Coran said with a large grin and he exuberantly shook Keith’s hand up and down.

“How did you get free?” Matt asked Shiro.

“I can’t remember,” Shiro said. Matt’s eyes landed on Shiro’s arm and he winced. “Druids.” Keith fought off a flash of his past life’s death. Yeah. He agreed.

“This is Lance, Hunk, and Keith. Together we’re the Paladins of Voltron,” Pidge said.

“Wait, my little sister who can’t even ride a bike in a straight line is a Paladin of Volron?” Matt said.

“That was only once!” Pidge yelled.

“I think we’re going to get along very well,” Lance said.

“Wait. Keith. As in Shiro’s little brother?” Matt said. Keith nodded.

“You knew about that?” Lance said.

“Yeah. He wouldn’t shut up at how proud he was of Keith for being the top pilot in his class,” Matt said.

“Don’t say it,” Hunk said.

“What?” Lance said.

“You know what,” Hunk said.

“Fine. Still think it’s not fair,” Lance said.

“You don’t have to relive your own death on a nightly basis,” Keith said flatly.

“I’m missing something,” Matt said.

“It’s not important,” Pidge said, “And it’s for Keith to tell him.”

“Follow me and I’ll get a room set up for Matt and some clothing other than those dreadful prisoner rags,” Coran said.

 

Once they were gone.

“Let’s agree that we _not_ talk about Keith’s unique situation until Matt has had sometime to adjust to freedom,” Shiro said.

“Alright. Do you really dream about your past life’s death that often?” Lance said. Keith rolled his eyes.

“It was the first thing I ever remembered. I’ve been having it as a recurring nightmare since I was four. After that planet, I sometimes dream about other times, but that’s usually what I dream of the most,” Keith said, “I’ve gotten better at falling asleep afterwards.”

“That majorly sucks,” Lance said.

“What’s a happy memory?” Hunk asked.

“Ones where I’m flying, usually,” Keith said, “Or fighting.”

“Not much has changed,” Shiro said. Keith shrugged. He didn’t see much difference between the “him” of the memories and himself. Not that it mattered. He was Keith now, and that’s the life he was going to live.

“There’s no way he’d know that!”

“Know what?” Keith said.

“The Galra version of quiznak,” Lance said.

“Actually, I do know a version of it. Altean doesn’t have very many swear words,” Keith said.

“Before you even say them, don’t,” Shiro said, “He already swears in Spanish when he thinks I’m not listening.”

“You understand Spanish?” Lance said.

“Shiro’s multi-lingual,” Keith said with a shrug.

“English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, some Galran and some Altean,” Shiro said counting the languages.

“I have English, Spanish, and some Altean. You don’t count, Mullet!”

“But even without the other memories I have English, Japanese, and Korean,” Keith said.

“Hawaiian, English, Spanish, Japanese and some Altean,” Hunk said listing off his languages, “And I know Pidge also speaks Spanish, but she sometimes curses in German.”

“You do realize that, to even apply to the Garrison, you had to be bilingual, right?” Keith said.

“Really?”

“Luckily, you already were bilingual,” Hunk said patting his friend on the shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> Welcome back. It's been one _**Hell**_ of a ride in America since I last posted a chapter.  
>  I've also fallen into _Trolls_ hell in the mean time.  
>  Something about that movie makes me happy, which is major because I'm usually the "glass-is-half-empty" kind of person.
> 
> Anyway, the whole "Bi-lingual requirement" thing I thought was logical for an international agency like the Garrison. 
> 
> And also, Hawaii Hunk ftw 
> 
> Since Jeremy Shada said Lance was Cuban, the Spanish is still a no brainer.
> 
> BTW Pidge speaks English, Spanish, German, Japanese, some Galran, and some Altean.
> 
> This means that it's possible for everyone from Earth but Lance to have a conversation and it's also possible for everyone but Keith to have a conversation as well.


	6. Chapter 5: A tear for the vulnerable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Changes are often _frightening_

_He was underwater? What was going on? That face_ —

————————————— ———————— ———————

Keith sat up panting. What was _that_! It wasn’t a memory; it didn’t feel like it was any sort of nightmare. He held his head in his hands and closed his eyes. That was almost worse than dreaming about dying. Keith opened his eyes and looked at his watch. He saw the time and it was only half an hour until Shiro usually woke them up for morning PT. No point in going back to sleep now. He got dressed and he saw his reflection in the mirror. He looked exhausted. Oh well. He walked out yawning and headed straight for the training deck. He was unsurprised to see Shiro was already there warming up.

“Morning,” Shiro said. Keith nodded before he set his bayard down and started to stretch. He kept thinking back to that weird whatever it was. He finished his stretching and walked over to the gladiator for a few warm up rounds with his sword. He stood ready and it felt so much more natural to have a sword in his hands. He supposed Lance would chalk it up to yet another “cheat” from his past life. Whatever. Muscle memory was earned. Keith ducked around an attack and managed to do a bit of blade work he hadn’t ever attempted before. Ok. Maybe Lance wasn’t 100% wrong about there being an advantage to being in Keith’s messed up situation.

“Nice one!” Shiro said. Keith smiled at him and kept pushing until the others arrived, including Matt who wasn’t letting Pidge out of his sights.

“Morning!” Shiro said as Keith ended the battle kicking the gladiator off to the side.

“End session,” Keith said.

“Show off!” Lance said.

“If you want a turn, take one,” Keith said with a shrug.

“I didn’t know the Garrison taught sword fighting,” Matt said.

“They don’t. We did kendo when we were kids,” Shiro said, “And some fencing. Saber mostly. My mother figured out Keith would get into less trouble if his aggressions were channeled somehow. Me too. We also did Karate and Judo.”

“I’m just going to watch,” Matt said.

“What, afraid Pidge will kick your butt?” Lance said.

“Pidge? Katie, why are they calling you that?” Matt said.

“Remember how I said I had to sneak into the Garrison? “Pidge” is the name I used and they’re used to it,” Pidge said.

“I’m still calling you “Katie.”” Matt said.

———————— ——————————————

Matt watched the Paladins practicing fighting in hand to hand combat.

“If they’re Voltron, why are they even practicing fighting like this?” Matt asked.

“Because our missions aren’t always in our lions. Also, this builds their trust in one another and helps Voltron function better.” Matt jumped and turned to see it was Allura.

“Princess,” Matt said.

“It’s alright to just call me Allura. I don’t have much to be a princess of,” Allura said.

“Why these five?” Matt asked.

“The Blue Lion saw something in them,” Allura said.

“The lions are sentient?”

“A little. They’re picky about who they bond with,” Allura said.

————————————————————— —————————

Keith saw a strike headed for Shiro and yelled,

“Above you!” Shiro blocked the attack.

“Keith!” Lance yelled. Keith looked and barely blocked an attack that would have hit him in the chest.

———————————— ———————— —————————

_The water was thick—not water! He was trapped he needed out! He pounded on the glass until—_

————— —————— ———————— ———

“Keith!” Keith snapped his eyes open. The others were leaning over him.

“Are you alright?” Shiro asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Keith said. Another one of those flashes. It had felt so real, like he’d really been in that strange tank, but it wasn’t possible.

“Was it a memory?” Hunk asked.

“I don’t think it was,” Keith said.

“That dart. Whatever was in that dart is doing this,” Pidge said. Keith stood up shakily. It was as if his limbs were on a delay.

“Let’s get you down to the med bay and scanned,” Shiro said.

——————— ——————— ————————

“What do you mean he’s further out of synch!” Keith was having trouble focusing on the present: flashes of the past as Keith and as Lotor were colliding, making hard for him to really understand what was going on.

“Whatever he was injected with has made his quintessence fall further out of synch with his body. If nothing is done, Keith might die,” Coran said.

“How can we fix this?” Allura asked.

“I don’t know. This is uncharted territory,” Coran admitted.

“What’s going on with his what?” They turned to see a confused Matt.

“Long story short, Keith’s soul is weird for his body and that was ok until he sort of got a second hand zap from a witch who tried to kill Shiro and it all settled itself and now it’s not ok anymore with his body,” Lance said.

“A little more detail please,” Matt said.

“I’ll handle this,” Pidge said, “Ok everyone has their own sort of unique quintessence that is pretty much their soul. The five of us,” Pidge said indicating the other four paladins and Matt, “Have frequencies that are fairly similar. Allura and Corans are way different than ours but similar to each other. Keith’s is nothing like ours or theirs, but his is more like theirs than ours. This is a problem because ours synch up to our bodies’ frequencies perfectly and Keith’s doesn’t. That’s because Keith’s quintessence was sort of recycled.”

“You’re saying you’ve proven a case of reincarnation?” Matt said.

“Yes. So, something has happened where his quintessence is really not synching up to his body and beyond this, we know next to nothing about souls,” Pidge said.

“Keith, are you ok?” Lance asked waving a hand in front of Keith’s eyes.

“Sort of,” Keith said as he tried to focus on what he was fairly certain was the present since it had humans in it.

“He looks almost concussed,” Coran said staring into Keith’s eyes. Some flashes it was Coran, others it was he doctor after the car accident that killed his parents and sometimes it’s a druid. That last one was the one that seemed the most odd. Keith lost his fight with consciousness and slumped forwards.

“We need to do something fast,” Shiro said.

“But only the Galra have been insane enough to mess with this sort of research,” Pidge said, “And our resident expert in reading Galra just collapsed.”

“How does he know how to do that?” Matt said.

“Past life was Half-Galra, Half-Altean,” Lance said, “Allura knew him.”

“His past life was important enough to know a princess?” Matt said.

“His father was a paladin of Voltron,” Allura said, “That’s not important, we’re going to need to find a facility that might have something on those experiments fast.”

—————————————————————— —————— —————————

_Haggar’s patience was growing thin. That was the third clone to fail._

_“Mistress, perhaps if the clone form was the same development as the current vessel?” Haggar regarded this apprentice for a few moments._

_“Excellent idea, Miria,” Haggar said as she looked through the clones in various developmental phases. Most were fully matured but there were a few adolescent specimens. She pulled up a file displaying the current vessel and compared it to the Champion. She judged the age difference and selected the clone that matched the best. She smirked as she prepared this one. This time it would work!_

————————— —————————————————————

Coran was looking over the readings and Pidge was pouring over her recently acquired intel with help from Matt to try to find something, anything, to help Keith whenever the Red Paladin opened his eyes and began screaming. Allura shuddered.

“It’s getting worse!” she said, “I feel it getting worse!”

“We need to get him into a cyropod!” Coran said as they carried the thrashing paladin between the pair of them. Once Keith was set inside, Coran hit a few buttons and Keith stilled as he was sent into stasis.

“His vitals are stabilizing, but I don’t dare awaken him,” Coran said.

“His quintessence is gone!” Allura said.

“What?” Pidge said, “but he’s still alive!”

“That’s now little more than a shell,” Coran said as a scan was run to reveal while the body was still functioning, that was it.

“It’s like he’s a vegetable,” Matt said, “But where did his quintessence go?”

——————————————— ——————————— ——————————

His eyes opened and he realized he was in a tank and it was full of liquid. He didn’t have room to move and he kicked at the sides as he held his breath before the liquid began to drain. He took a shaky breath once it was below head level, only to cough. Whatever this goo was, it was in his throat and nose. He shook his head to try to get whatever it was out of his ears. He slipped to his butt as the liquid drained: unable to stand. The glass retracted and he weakly looked up to see—no! But he couldn’t do much more than flop away from her. Though, while flopping, he realized he wasn’t wearing anything.

“Enough of that,” she said as she motioned to others. He felt two sets of hands hauling him to his feet and dragging him to what looked like a decontamination shower. He began to slip into unconsciousness before the water was even turned on.

———————————————————— ———————— ———————————

_“Mistress, why did he draw back from you?”_

_“His last memory is me killing him,” Haggar said, “Would you react well to that upon waking?”_

_“Of course not,” Miria said._

_“Precisely,”Haggar said. If she had done this properly, all the memories he’d acquired in that other life would be lost to the trauma of waking in a_ **_proper_ ** _body. If not, she would_ **_make_ ** _them disappear._

———————— ———————— ———————————————————

This time when he opens this eyes, there was no liquid but it was not a room he recognized. His head hurt like it had that one time he’d nearly drowned when he was small. He sat up rubbing his temples but stopped whenever he felt hair way past where it should have been. Keith moved his hands in front of his face and they were purple. This had to be a dream. This—he needed a mirror. He got out of the bed only to have his legs give out on him. He was wearing a simple body suit and his bare feet were also purple. He used the bed he’d been on to stand up and shakily looked around. It wasn’t too different from his room in the Castle. He found the switch for the connected bathroom and used the sink to hold himself up as he looked into the mirror. A younger version of his past life stared back at him. The long white hair was a mess and the blue marks under his eyes were standing out against the paling purple skin. This wasn’t possible. He reached for an exposed wrist and pinched it making him wince from the pain, his clawed fingers had nearly broken the skin. Clawed fingers. The pain let him know this was reality.

How was he in a galra ship in a body that looked like it was a de-aged version of his past life? _That serum_! It must have something to do with it. He needed to—, what exactly? He could barely walk as it was, and there was no way he was getting off this ship. That Druid wouldn’t let him go. He heard the door in the other room open and flinched whenever he heard footsteps. It was the druid. Haggar, his memories as Lotor provided.

“Up already—oh. Still the Red Paladin,” she said.

“Stay back!” Keith said backing away from her, “You killed me before and tried to kill me this time!”

“So you do remember, Lotor,” Haggar said.

“Lotor died when you killed him,” Keith said.

“I saved you. If your soul hadn’t been so volatile, you would have never spent anytime as a lesser being,” Haggar said.

“Humans aren’t lesser!” Keith said.

“But their lifespans are so small compared to ours even before I found the key to longevity,” Haggar said. She closed the space between Keith and her and he was too weak to jerk away from her hands. The pain behind his eyes made him black out.

———————————— ————————— —————————————

_Haggar held the unconscious form carefully and nodded. Those pesky memories from his time as the Red Paladin had been taken care of. She carried him back to the bed and laid him down. When he next woke, he would be Lotor again. Zarkon’s heir was back from the dead. This time if he died,she could more easily place his soul in a proper body._

——————————————— ————————————— ——————————

Lotor sat up panting. He—He was alive? He ran a hand down his torso and there was not even a twinge of soreness from that shot that had ripped through it. Wait. His hands. They were too small. He looked down, so was his torso. It was like he had been aged backwards to just before his last growth-spurt. Except, his hands were also too smooth. There were no calluses from years of combat training or years of piloting. It was like this body was brand-new. He had to take a look. The room was different but he had some niggling sense of familiarity. He found the refresher and his reflection confirmed what he suspected. He was somehow in a younger body. And he was starving. He did not miss that part of being this age the first time around. Allura always—. She probably **_hated_** him.Lotor went back to the main room and searched for some sort of footwear and came up with nothing. Whoever did this to him did’t intend for him to leave this room. He heard the door open and he felt relief wash over him.

“Father?” why did his Father seem so shocked to see him? He stood still as his Father seemed to be staring at him.

“You look younger.”

“I don’t know why, I just woke up like this,” Lotor said. His stomach growled and he felt his cheeks heat up. “How long was I out?”

“10,000 years.” Lotor looked up to see Haggar entering the room.

“ ** _10,000_** **_years_**? But how?” Lotor said.

“It was the only way to save your life, my Prince.” Everything he knew was gone, except his Father.

“How are you still alive?” Lotor asked his Father.

“That is best left for another time, I’m sure you’re starving,” Haggar said.

“I might look like a child, but I’m not one, Haggar,” Lotor said.

“Enough.”

“Of course, Father,” Lotor said inclining his head to his father.

“It is good to have you back.” Lotor looked up at that. Back? He shook his head. He probably meant out of stasis. People just didn’t come back from the dead. That was utterly impossible, even for a Druid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late posting, but I've been sick and sleeping a LOT over the past so many days (and Pokemon Moon isn't helping matters).  
> Enjoy!


	7. Chapter 6: I was through with hoping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Recovery is often slow going, but the feeling that something isn't right is nagging at him.

Lotor fought against a training droid and grimaced against the pain of his body as he went through a lower level fight. His lungs were burning and his hands felt rubbed raw from the sword he’d borrowed. He would never get back to fighting fitness at this rate. This body was too weak.  
“Enough!” He stopped mid-swing.  
“End simulation” he said. He stood at attention as best he could while panting.  
“You are still recovering,” his Father said. Lotor looked down,  
“I don’t do well with being an invalid,” Lotor said. He didn’t do well with speaking but that lesson had been taught a long time ago.  
“I would rather you recovered before you tried this,” his Father said gently grabbing one of Lotor’s hands and frowning at the raw skin he saw, pink blood was visible in some places.  
“Report to Haggar for a checkup to make sure your systems weren’t over taxed from this,” he said. Lotor flinched but nodded.  
————— ———————— ——————— ————————  
“If you want to damage yourself, that’s fine whenever you’re not still fresh from the tank!” Haggar said as she used her magic to heal his hands. The calluses formed instead of smooth flesh, so there was that, at least. That was actually—  
“Don’t even think about pushing yourself and having me heal you like this to improve faster,” she said, “Though, I could fix the atrophy to your muscles, I can’t fix your overall strength.”  
“Fine,” Lotor said.  
“This will hurt and once I do it, you will be confined to your room for the rest of the day.” Lotor fought back an expression of disgust, barely. This adolescent form was making it harder for him to control his emotions. His temper, which he’d gotten a handle on, was back to being closer to the surface than ever. Haggar gathered her materials and she wasn’t kidding about the pain.  
“Miria, escort Prince Lotor to his quarters,” Haggar instructed her apprentice.  
“I can walk,” Lotor said.  
“Then I will merely walk along side you, Your Highness,” Miria said. Lotor did eventually end up needing to lean against her before long. Once alone in the room he’d awakened in he sat on the bed in an exhausted heap. The future was nothing like he’d expected it to be. Computers and droids had come a fair way, but other things were still the same, like refreshers and other domestic technology. He was betting most of the technological advancements were in weapons and medicine and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He had been a full fledged Galra warrior and now that his body wasn’t, he was being treated as if he were a child. He crossed over to the console that he’d asked for, so he could catch up on 10,000 years of history he’d missed while he was out. He wished he’d had Sincline’s skill with hacking—. His chest gave a phantom twinge of pain from where Sinecline had shot him. Lotor shook his head and carefully accessed the computer the way he’d been shown by Haggar’s other apprentice a few days ago. The information he received seemed like it had been….edited. Any time he tried to research himself, he received very little information and nothing about what the populace had been told about his fate.  
They were hiding something from him, and he needed to find out what it was. He finally searched about the fate of Altea.  
No! Why! His mother’s people, gone! Why had his Father done this! He knew he’d never get to apologize to Allura, but this—He was half an extinct species. He would never be able to visit his mother’s resting place again. He saw something about Voltron, and dreaded to see what was written and was relieved to see the Lions weren’t destroyed but it appeared his father never regained his Black Lion, and there were new Paladins—New Paladins!— who were declared to be enemies of the empire. He pulled up the information on the Paladins only to have his console go black. He wasn’t stupid. Just because this was a very advanced computer, doesn’t mean he’d broken it. Someone didn’t want him seeing too much about Voltron. Why?  
——————————————————————————————————— ——————————————  
The next day, Lotor was released to resume training but was informed there would be someone to monitor him and the moment he pushed himself, the droid would be shut down remotely. Lotor barely prevented an eye roll, but proceeded to warm up. He drew the sword he’d been lent and went through his forms. It flowed farm more smoothly this time. It slightly rankled that Haggar could just give this to him, but he’d swallow his pride if it meant being seen as a capable warrior again.  
“I don’t see many children around here.” Lotor jumped and turned to see an alien who looked somewhat familiar to him. Whatever race he was, it looked similar to Alteans. The ears were messed up though.  
“I’m not a child. What the comriactain is wrong with your ears?” he asked.  
“Nothing. They’re perfectly natural for my race,” the man said.  
“If the druids sent you, I know not to push myself,” Lotor said.  
“No, I was sent to make sure you ate,” the man said gesturing to a tray of food. Lotor did fee a little hungry. And space was “a little” big.  
“Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?” Lotor asked as he walked over to the food.  
“Oh, I don’t think you’ve heard of it,” the man said.  
“Try me.”  
“Earth.” Lotor stopped. A flash of a desert came to mind.  
“It sounds familiar,” Lotor said after a moment.  
“That would be a first,” the man said.  
“What are you called?” Lotor asked.  
“Samuel Holt.” A flash of two kids came to mind.  
“Lotor.”  
“Are Galra not big on family names?” Samuel Holt asked.  
“A name or title is earned, so your parents’ titles are not yours,” Lotor said, “Though, sometimes they can be assigned to you without doing much aside from being born. Mine is Leatfola. Half-Breed.”  
“I apologize for offending you,” Samuel Holt said.  
“No need. What is a human doing here?” Lotor asked.  
“Why care so much for a slave?” Samuel Holt said.  
“Slave?” but Drule had outlawed Slavery before even his father’s father’s father had been born!  
“I suppose I am “luckier” than most,” Samuel Holt said bitterly. “Luckier than my son.” That last phrase had been in a different language, but Lotor was able to understand it!  
“My apologies,” Lotor said hollowly, “I’ve lost my appetite.”  
“You speak English?” Samuel Holt said. Lotor looked at him and realized he’d responded to the alien in that language. English it was called?  
“I suppose I do,” Lotor said. He left the training room and rushed back to his quarters and searched for slavery in the database and was sickened to see not only was it legal again, but a matter of course for “resistant” citizens of “acquired” planets. His father was conquering and enslaving people like the Galran Emperors of old. Had this been what his father had been aiming for even before—.  
He ran to the refresher and was sick. What had happened to his Father, the virtuous Black Paladin? What had happened to his people, his remaining people, that they would do this? There was also the lingering sense that there was something wrong about his existence. It was crawling below his skin. He needed to find out the truth. He caught his reflection and he looked terrible. Wait. He could change that. He’d never tried it, but now was a good time to start trying to look more Galran. He closed his eyes and focused. The shift came and his eyes itched and he felt his skin itch a little. He opened his eyes and they were pupil-less yellow orbs staring back at him. His hair looked a little wilder and his skin had taken on a darker tone to it, making his blue markings nearly invisible. He was also taller, but the suit he was wearing stretched. He slipped out into the hallway and realized he was still too small to be a proper soldier, but he wasn’t going to be deterred. 

“What are you doing on this ship!” Lotor froze from the voice and turned to see it was a Galran officer, and he had no idea how to tell what rank this warrior was because the armor had changed drastically while he was out.  
“Ah, you look like one of Haggar’s little science experiments. I’d probably better return you to her,” the large Galra said narrowing his yellow eyes at Lotor. Before Lotor could protest the officer dragged the young demi-Galra through the ship and back to Haggar’s lab.  
“If you want to play Aona, fine, but don’t let you little creations loose where decent beings can run into them!”  
“If you would unhand him right now, that would be appreciated Commander Halroc,” Haggar said, “I’m surprised you’re not in the training room right now, Your Highness.” The Commander looked at Lotor in a way that made the demi-Galra distinctly uncomfortable.  
“I decided I wanted to explore,” Lotor said as he shifted back to his usual form which made the Commander’s eyes widen. The large Galra raised a clawed hand to his own face and seemed to realize what the marks on Lotor’s face indicated.  
“What have you done?”  
“I saved his life,” Haggar said. The Commander left the room.  
“What really happened to me?” Lotor asked, “I know I wasn’t in stasis, if that’s the reaction.”  
“You died. I pulled your soul out of your body myself,” Haggar said, “I then anchored it to this world and for 10,000 years I worked to perfect placing souls into new bodies until I finally managed it and was able to place your soul in a body we cloned from yours.”  
“I’m a marbah,” Lotor said in disgust.  
“You are not! A marbah is incapable of consciousness and it lacks the correct soul, or a soul in general!” Haggar said.  
“Am I truly Prince Lotor or just some cheap dubailt made to think it’s him?” Lotor asked.  
“I’ve held your soul in my hands, child,” Haggar said, “There is no room for doubt that you are Lotor son of Zarkon and Kiara.”  
“Is this a copy of my body?” Lotor said gesturing at himself.  
“Yes; your original body was unsalvageable,” Haggar said.  
“Is this how my Father’s been able to live 10,000 years?” Lotor asked.  
“No,” Haggar said, “You’re overwrought by the hormones of that form, and aren’t thinking rationally.”  
“I am not!” Lotor yelled, “Why didn’t you just tell me that I was fully dead!”  
“Would you have believed it possible that I was able to bypass death and bring you back?” Haggar said. Lotor took a breath and deflated a little.  
“No,” Lotor said. Haggar looked into his eyes.  
“Your Father isn’t coddling you because he doesn’t think you capable, Prince Lotor. He lost you for 10,000 years because you died. He only just got you back,” Haggar said, “And I don’t want to be placing your soul in any new bodies for a long time, if ever again, young one.” Lotor blushed. Haggar had gotten to the root of most of his frustrations.  
“Why is there slavery?” Lotor asked.  
“Sometimes to gain ground, certain civilities are sacrificed,” Haggar said, “Once we’ve civilized them fully, we grant them citizenship.” Lotor didn’t believe it for one second but nodded liked he did anyway. He’d gotten all the truth he was going to be getting out of Haggar. 

He walked out of the lab and saw the Commander, looking very contrite, was waiting for him.  
“Prince Lotor,” he said.  
“I presume you reported to my Father that the Witch Haggar had cloned me and was trying to pass off a dubailt as real,” Lotor said.  
“You presume correctly, your highness,” the Commander said.  
“I don’t blame you for thinking that,” Lotor said, “If I weren’t in this situation, I wouldn’t believe it myself.”  
“Nevertheless I apologize, Your Highness,” Commander Halroc said.  
“No need, though I would like to ask you for a favor. If you could fill me in on the current situation with these Paladins, from a Commander’s perspective, I’d appreciate it,” Lotor said.  
“Not much can be said aside from the fact five aliens have gained control of the greatest weapon in the universe. They managed to steal the Red Lion right out from under Sendak’s nose. He’s been marked as LIA and not likely to be recovered. They had the guts to attack the main fleet and rescue their princess. We’re still preparing damage done by that Red Lion whenever its suicidal Paladin took on the Emperor directly.”  
“Father was able to fight off a Lion without the Black Lion?” Lotor said.  
“He almost had his lion back but that’s when the insane Red Paladin struck,” the Commander said, “They recently hit a mining planet but haven’t been tracked down since.”  
“Princess? Is Princess Allura still alive?” Lotor asked.  
“Surprisingly, yes. She and her advisor seem to both be among the living,” the Commander said before he saluted and Lotor knew he’d been busted. Lotor stood at attention and his Father was standing there and looked very unimpressed with him at the moment.  
“Walk with me.” Lotor fell into step behind his Father. Zarkon led him through the ship into what appeared to be a throne room, with a massive view out into space. There was extensive damage being repaired to the ouster edges of the massive space craft.  
“Take a good look. This destruction was caused by one Paladin.” Lotor stared at the expanse and had flash of red lighting. What? He blinked and it was back to the soft violet lighting of his father’s throne room. “You want to know why I’ve kept you out of the loop concerning Voltron? It’s because I don’t want to risk losing you to them.” Lotor looked away guiltily.  
“I don’t understand, why wouldn’t you just tell me they were dangerous.”  
“You wouldn’t have listened. You are too much your Mother’s son,” Zarkon said, “It cost you your life once already.” Lotor flushed with guilt. His Father hid this from him to keep him safe.  
“What about slavery being reinstated?” Lotor asked.  
“It was the only way to keep order. If we appear weak, those planets we bring into our fold will not respect us,” Zarkon said. Lotor looked away.  
“You are young. You will have time to see that I do this for the good of our people,” Zarkon said.  
——————— —————————— ———————  
Lotor sat in his room, staring at his hands. It wouldn’t matter if he got back into fighting shape. His father was never going to allow him to fight in battle again. Though, did he even want to? He had been so sure his Father had been doing the right thing by expanding Galran rule over other planets. He wasn’t so sure anymore. Coming back from the dead was confusing, and there was no one he could turn to because he was the first one back from the dead. He had second chance— to do what?  
One thing was certain, sitting in his room moping wouldn’t fix anything. There was still time to the day; he had a lot of frustrations to work out and there was a training robot with his name on it.  
Fighting and flying had always helped him think in the past. Since he was sure flying was denied to him for a while, fighting was all he had left. For now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next few chapters will be more Lotor/Keith centric
> 
>  **comriactain** is one of those forms of "quiznak" Keith had been talking about whenever Lance asked him about Galra swears.
> 
>  **dubailt** = copy/clone  
>  **marbah** = Galran for Zombie  
>  **Aona** = the Goddess of the Galra


	8. Chapter 7: There's no obstacle that can't be defeated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Lotor gets a chance to not be bored _back_ to death, he finds he should have been careful what he wished for.
> 
>  
> 
> _Team Voltron is almost complete again_

**Chapter 7: There’s no obstacle that can’t be defeated**

Lotor slid under the training droid’s legs, leapt up slashing its back, and sending it flying with a kick. He heard the sound that indicated he’d defeated that level.

“End simulation,” Lotor said. The Droid stood up and stilled. His bangs were in his eyes and he could feel his hair pulling itself out of his training braid. He walked over to the side of the room where water and food waited for him. It had been a week since he found out he had died, and he had managed to improve his stamina a little. Samuel Holt seemed to be the one they sent into the training room the most.

“Thank you Samuel Holt,” Lotor said.

“It’s just “Sam,” Lotor,” Sam said.

“Not that I mind that it’s you, why do they send you to check on me?” Lotor said.

“I suppose the fact you seem to respond well to me has something to do with it, Your Highness,” Sam said.

“You know who I am,” Lotor said.

“I was informed of it,” Sam said, “Though, I was under the impression Emperor Zarkon didn’t have any children.”

“Just me,” Lotor said.

“How old are you?” Sam asked.

“I’m not sure,” Lotor said, “I died when I was considered to be about Twenty-Two, and now this body is somewhere around Seventeen or so.”

“Died?” Sam said.

“The druids can do frighteningly amazing things,” Lotor said as he grabbed a pouch of water. Sam stared at him as he ate. Lotor was finished and Sam seemed to be trying to speak.

“How long ago….?” It was English. So, Lotor responded in the same language.

“I died 10,000 years ago, and I was only brought back a short time ago.”

“The world must seem very different to you.”

“Yes.” Lotor said in Galran.

“I’ll see you in a few hours,” Sam said taking the tray. Lotor nodded before be stretched and grabbed his sword.

“Droid. Activate training program level 5,” Lotor said.

“Affirmative.”

—————— ——————————— ————————— ————

Lotor was being pushed back. He had started off well but he had forgotten his stamina still wasn’t recovered. He barely rolled out the way of an attack whenever he heard the doors open. He growled in annoyance and managed to pull off a risky twirl and land a hit to the droid’s chest sending it back before he flipped away.

“End simulation,” He ordered. He stood at attention as his Father and a different Commander with an entourage entered. This Commander was more reptilian and had fins for ears.

“Father,” Lotor said bowing at the waist before resuming standing at attention.

“Commander Cossak, I present my son, Prince Lotor,” Father said. Lotor was confused but stayed still as the Commander walked around Lotor. He felt like he was being evaluated and found… _wanting_. He hadn’t felt like this since he was a cadet.

“He has your bearing, my Lord,” Commander Cossak said, “Though, I would have expected him to be older.”

“That would be a side-effect of Haggar’s success in restoring my Son,” Father said.

“Almost too pretty.”

“He looks like his mother.”

“Impressive swordsmanship, if a little short lasting. Though, if he is still recovering, I am impressed at his improvement. I suppose I could take him under my wing.” _What?!_ Lotor barely kept his face impassive. He might get to see action and not die from boredom?

“I then entrust him to you. Do not forget that he is of infinite value to me.” Lotor knew that was too much to hope for.

“I understand,” Commander Cossak said. Lotor watched his Father leave and soon it was just him and the Commander in the training room.

“You may stand down.”

“Thank you, sir.” Lotor did so and rubbed his shoulder.

“You’re very well disciplined.”

“Thank you,” Lotor said.

“What was your Mother?” Lotor blinked and stared at the Commander. Did he really not know?

“Sir?” The Commander really didn’t know.

“I’m assuming you are a crossbreed.”

“That is correct,” Lotor said, “My title was Leatfola.”

“Title? But that system hasn’t been used in—.”

“10,000 years, yes,” Lotor said, “My mother was Captain Kiara of Altea’s Spaceforce.” This got a response from the Commander who looked at Lotor with more scrutiny.

“Can you appear more Galran?” he asked, “I’ve read that Alteans could shift their features.”

“It was limited but I can, Sir,” Lotor said as he closed his eyes. When he opened them, Commander Cossak nodded approvingly.

“While you are under my command, I want you to look like this as much as possible. You will be Lieutenant Bennu for the time being,” Commander Cossak said, “Gather your things and be at the hanger bay in fifteen trims.” Lotor bowed his head. “Dismissed.”

——————— ——————————— ——————

_Commander Cossak was surprised whenever he arrived five trims early, that Prince Lotor was already there and waiting. The Prince’s only bag was small and looked barely filled. Either not very materialistic or he didn’t have anything worth taking._

_“Your promptness was unexpected, and appreciated Lieutenant,” Commander Cossak said._

_“Thank you, sir.” No sense of sucking up, just a polite response. This kid must have had one heck of an upbringing. Though, this “kid” also seemed to be he was chronologically older than himself. No matter. The Prince had seemed to submit to his authority and that was half the battle_.

————————— ———————————— —————————

_“Any news?”_

_“Sorry. These last few facilities haven’t turned up anything, Princess.” Pidge looked at the data as it was translated, “I mean maybe you could try using the castle to help you call his soul back, but other than that I got nothing.”_

_“Dad would cringe to hear you say that.”_

_“Bite me, Matt.”_

_“Of course! Why didn’t I try it before!” Allura said. She rushed through the castle to the med bay where Keith’s body was in stasis and she placed her hands on the sides of the pod and focused on him and what his quintessence felt like and pulled._

————————— ——————————— ————

Lotor had taken a few steps after the Commander before a sharp pain ripped through his chest. He kept going a few more paces before it dropped him and he couldn’t breathe. The ship floor in front of him wavered and he almost blacked out a few times. He could hear muffled shouting. He felt bony hands grab his shoulders and he saw Haggar’s face, which was very, very briefly overlayed with _Allura?!_ The overlay was brief and soon his breathing eased and the pain lessened.

“What happened?” he asked.

“You had a synchronization episode,” Haggar said, “Commander, I request that my apprentice Miria accompanies his highness. She among all my current apprentices is the most practiced with this situation.”

“At your command.” Lotor stood up shakily and saw Miria was at his side in seconds.

“Are these episodes common?” Commander Cossak asked.

“They may occur from time to time, but without intervention from myself or my apprentice, this could have escalated and become life threatening,” Haggar said, “In time these will subside, but as the Prince recovers, this is to be expected.”

“You are to report to the med bay immediately if you feel any of these episodes, am I understood,” Commander Cossak said.

“Yes, sir,” Lotor said shakily.

—————————— —————————— ————————

_“I almost had it,” Allura said as she sat down recovering, “His eyes opened for half a second.”_

_“Despite being in stasis?” Coran said._

_“Yes, but there was something—_ **_someone—_ ** _else pulling him back,” Allura said._

_“That means whatever that serum did worked and they don’t want us undoing it,” Shiro said._

_“So, the stuff made Keith’s soul loose. Why do that unless they knew what soul Keith had?” Lance said. Everyone stared at him before a simultaneous collective moment of “but of course!” passed between all of them._

_“Keith fought directly against that Druid; if she knew what she were looking for, she’d have been able to know that Keith’s soul was different,” Allura said, “Which means they have some sort of plan to resurrect Prince Lotor.”_

_“Can they do that?” Hunk asked._

_“They can try,” Matt said._

_“So are they going to make a zombie Lotor for Keith’s soul to animate or something?” Lance said._

_“Zom-bie?" Coran said._

_“Undead corpse,” Pidge explained, “Living-dead, moving dead?”_

_“Oh, like the Galra_ marbah _!” Coran said, “Said to feast on quintessence!”_

_“That sounds more like a_ _kyonshī than a zombie_ _,” Shiro said. Everyone stared at him. “Don’t you have a hobby?”_

_“Chances are, whoever was behind this wouldn’t do that; marbah are reviled creatures in Galran culture,” Coran said._

_“But if they had a proper vessel, they could animate it with the quintessence and it would properly synchronize,” Allura said._

_“Are you saying that a druid is going to try to bring Lotor back from the dead fully?” Lance said._

_“Who’s Lotor?” Matt asked._

_“Prince Lotor, son of Zarkon of Drule and Captain Kiara of Altea,” Coran said._

_“You’re saying your friend Keith wasthe reincarnation of the son of the most evil being in the universe?” Matt said._

_“Exactly, but he was Keith this time,” Lance said._

_“If he wasn’t worthy, the Red Lion would have never let him fly it,” Shiro said._

_“What do we do if they did use Keith’s soul to bring back his past life?” Hunk said._

_“Lotor was a skilled warrior. Subduing him will be nearly impossible,” Allura said, “I’m not even sure how he died the first time. I never had the nerve to ask Keith about it.”_

_“We’re running out of time,” Coran said, “If we don’t get Keith’s soul back into_ **_this_ ** _body within the next seirip, this body will never accept his soul back.”_

_“What’s a seirip?” Hunk said._

_“Six Ultas.” Lance gestured for Coran to go on. “An Ulta is 20 qalitimes.” another hand wave. “A qaulitime is 30 mega ticks.”_

_“So we have an Earth Week to stuff Keith’s soul back into this body or we can never do it,” Shiro said._

_“Yeah, good thing Space isn’t big or anything,” Lance said._

——————————————————— ———— ————————————————

Lotor was quickly sick of Miria’s hovering. He hadn’t had another episode for the rest of that particular day. Nor the next morning. His duties aboard Commander Cossak’s ship were menial but it was better than nothing. The other officers treated him with thingy veiled disgust. He heard “ _masc_ ” hissed at him. “Half-blood.” He knew what he was and he was not about to let anyone make him feel ashamed for it! Any time he used the officers’ training deck, any other officers usually cleared out as if he were carrying the plague. Though, that meant that they didn’t notice the druid trailing him. Miria was very good at disappearing into the background when she chose even with wearing the full robes of a druid and the white mask.

“Why you of all of Haggar’s assistants?” Lotor asked.

“I beg your pardon?” Miria said.

“Why were you chosen to follow me around in case I relapse?” Lotor said.

“I am her best apprentice,” Miria said.

“You’re not a full Druid?”

“Not yet, but I have the most promise,” Miria said.

“The truth,” Lotor said. Miria removed her white mask and revealed a surprisingly young face. Her marks were half-done, indicating she was not a full druid but her face bore a striking resemblance to Haggar.

“She is my mother,” Miria said replacing the mask, “It is my honor to serve you like she has served your father.”

“I hope you don’t have a need to worry,” Lotor said. Whatever that episode had been, it had been terrifying and confusing. He reported to his duties alongside the officers helping to maintain the engine integrity. Mechanics had never been his strong suit, but this was simple-ish. More advanced than the engine of his fighter from _before_ but still not too far ahead. He had a sinking suspicion this was a lighter armored vessel and he was not going to even be _seeing_ action from a control room screen.

“Pass the—.” whatever his crew member was asking for would not be known for that was when the ship lurched suddenly sending both of them to the floor. Hard. Another hit sent them sliding. Lotor snagged a side of the console and offereda hand to his crew mate, a larger galra with long fluffy fur a light magenta color. He caught hold of him and it hurt, but he managed to maintain his grip.

“You’re strong for a masc!”

“Thank me later!” Lotor said as he hauled them both up under the console. The ship was still tilted and since this was space, that wasn’t a good sign. Lotor climbed up the console and tried to assess the engines to see that the readings were dead.

“The engines are dead!”

“ ** _Comriactain_**!” Lotor had to agree with the sentiment. The door out of the engine compartment was across from them, but in the dead center. Before they could even try to figure out a way across, the ship slammed back to it’s previous level state making them fall over. Lotor and the crew member exchanged looks and bolted for the door only to have it open and reveal a group of ragged looking aliens.

“Hands up, Galra scum!” 

“Fine thing for pirates to call _us_ scum!” Lotor looked at his crew mate sharply. Pirates? Why should he even _be_ surprised. The future had already proven to be horrible in other ways, why not piracy too! 

“Well, looky here,” the pirate invaded Lotor’s personal space. “I spy a little Galra mutt parading itself around like a proper alien. I know someone who might pay a pretty penny for you.” Lotor glared. 

“Taking me would be a mistake.”

“They all say that,” the Pirate said before he head-butted Lotor knocking him out.

———————— ——————————— —————————

_The other Galran crew member tried to escape and the pirate shot him for his trouble._

_“Take a look at this!” The pirate looked and saw the cross-breed’s skin changed color and he flipped him over revealing blue marks under the eyes._

_“I do believe we’ve got ourselves a_ **very** _rare specimen here!” the pirate said picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He turned to exit whenever one of his men was nailed by a blast of quintessence lightning. Panting with half her mask shattered stood a druid. Her red marks only half done meaning this was an apprentice druid._

_“Put him down!” she ordered. A blast hit her from behind sending her to the ground, out cold. It revealed another pirate._

_“Little chalza took out Jorl,” the new pirate said._

_“Double pay day, let’s get out of here, Jarl.”_

_“Right behind you, Jerl.” Jarl picked up the druid and they exited the craft through the hole they’d made._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!  
> Welcome to another chapter!  
> AS you can see, I updated the chapter length because I forgot to previously.
> 
> I also binge played FF XV since last Tuesday and beat my KH 2 record of totally blitzing a Square Enix Console game in record time: It only took me five days (and on two of them I had classes so I had less time for my games those days). I also only consulted a walkthrough four times and those were for side quests I could have abandoned but undertook for various reasons.  
> I digress, **FF XV WRECKED ME. HOW DARE THEY GET ME INVESTED AND THEN RIP MY HEART OUT! IT'S FFX ALL OVER AGAIN, ONLY WORSE!!!!**
> 
> I am so glad this story was already done or this whole thing could have taken a SUPER ANGSTY turn.  
>  _Lab Rat_ fans, you might want to be worried......
> 
>  
> 
>  _ **chalza**_ \- Like in English, there is only one "C" word you use to insult a female.  
>  _ **masc**_ \- a racial slur against any Galran cross-breeds, one Lotor was long familiar with prior to his first death.  
>  _ **Leatfola**_ \- The nicer way to call someone a half-breed.  
>  _Returning terms:_  
>  _ **marbah**_ : Like they said this is basically the Galran equivalent of a zombie-jiganshi/kyonshī hybrid monster. Feasts on quintessence.  
>  _ **Comriactain**_ : The Galran F-bomb. Don't tell Lance.


	9. Chapter 8: Burning like a fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotor ends up with beings he never thought he'd see again, but the wayward son of Zarkon finds his way only to find he was more lost than he could have ever dreamed.

Lotor opened his eyes and regretted it instantly. The light was blinding and pierced his eyes like knives to the back of his head. He squinted his eyes open a second time and there was a figure looming over him in the blinding lights. They were speaking— _Altean?_

“Ah, you’re awake little one.” The lights were dimmed with a quick command from the speaker and when Lotor’s eyes adjusted it was an Altean woman with light yellow marks on her nut brown skin. Her long curly hair was pulled back in a pair of buns at the back of her head with trailing tails of black curls cascading down her back. She wore a black bodysuit. Lotor sat up, head swimming.

“Where am I?”

“In good time. I’m Amue,” she said.

“Lotor.”

“That is not an Altean name.”

“It’s Galran.” Lotor said rubbing his temples.

“I was hoping you weren’t half-Galra. There are other races with purple skin in the universe.”

“How are there Alteans?” Lotor looking into Amue’s gray eyes.

“There were many of our people off world at the time of Altea’s doom, and likely that’s where your Altean parent came from. Did your Altean parent die when you were very young?”

“Yes,” Lotor said.

“I apologize,” Amue said.

“How did I get here?” Lotor asked.

“We intercepted a Pirate vessel aiming to sell you to some butcher who has been actively hunting my kind for out “exotic” qualities,” Amue said, “We set all the prisoners free and let off a distress beacon so that whoever could, would help them before we left with you.”

“I have to get back to the Empire.” Lotor looked away. “My father will be very worried about me.”

“An Empire that destroyed Altea and continues to ruin worlds.”

“Ruin worlds?” Lotor asked. Amue just stared at him,

“You’ve been sheltered, haven’t you? Sheltered from the cruelty of your father’s people?” Lotor glared at her.

“I know things aren’t right! The slavery! The destruction of Altea! I know that!” Lotor snarled. Her look at him made him realize he’d said too much.

“How old are you?” Amue asked him.

“10,000, give or take,” Lotor admitted.

“That would make you Prince Lotor. Quiznak! Your father is—Oh we’re so quiznaked!” Amue said, “Where have you been that Galran slavery seems to be new to you?”

“Stasis,” Lotor said. It would be better to say _that_ than to admit to this _already_ freaked out Altean woman ‘I was brought back from the **dead** into a cloned body.’

“It was reported you were dead.”

“The stasis was done to save my life,” Lotor said.

“You’re confused aren’t you?” Amue said.

“Everything is so wrong,” Lotor said looking at his own hand. He looked back up at Amue, “Tell me, what do you mean the Galra empire is ruining planets? Is it pollution or something much worse?”

“Are you certain you wish to know?” Amue said.

“Please. I’m sick of being kept in the dark and being treated like a child,” Lotor said.

——————————————————————— ——————————————————————————

Lotor sat in the small room Amue had offered him feeling heartsick. In the 10,000 years he was…dead, his father had died and this monster wearing his father’s face and form had been terrorizing and destroying the universe, planet by planet. The father he remembered, the fierce and protective Black Paladin, was no more and this heartless menace was all there was in his place. What had happened to make his father go mad like this? It had started before Lotor’s death, otherwise his father might not have even bothered to start by conquering Drule in the first place. Sorry, _Doom_. His father had renamed their home world _Doom_ in the millennia Lotor had been dead. Trying to remember why his father had done that was fruitless. He simply couldn’t tell there was any difference to him. It was his father, and his father was virtuous and any cause he believed in was just, and so Lotor had been happy to fight along side his father. There was no way Zarkon wasn’t doing what he was doing for the betterment of all. Or so, Lotor had thought just before his first death. Now, seeing the results all these years later…

If he ever got to see Allura again, he would have to beg her for forgiveness.

“Are you hungry?” Lotor looked up to see it was a younger Altean, a boy who looked a lot like his Uncle Krian had. Even the black hair had the same spikey-messy tendency and the marks were a bright green. Lotor nodded following the boy through the ship. The condition of the ship wasn’t the best, as it was clearly a patched together machine. Other Altean survivors, and their families made up the crew on this vessel.

“Why are you purple?” the boy asked.

“My father is purple,” Lotor said.

“Can you shift?” the boy asked.

“I could,” Lotor said.

“Would you?” They stopped. “Purple isn’t a good color here.” Lotor could see the uneasiness in the boy’s eyes and nodded before he focused and the boy was left staring up at him in shock.

“You look like me!”

“I look like my mother,” Lotor retorted.

“I’m Harlan.”

“Lotor.”

“That’s a weird name.”

“So is Harlan.”

“Is not!” Lotor smirked and ruffled Harlan’s hair as they resumed walking to the mess hall. Harlan led Lotor to what were clearly his parents. It was comforting for Lotor to see his mother’s people weren’t extinct after all, but his presence was a danger. No matter how monstrous his father had become, he was still his father, and still **very** protective of Lotor.

After he finished eating his meal he approached Amue who looked at him with wide eyes.

“You can—.”

“I can. I need to get off this ship,” Lotor said.

“I know. We’ll be passing a space port soon where there are usually some Galran forces lingering,” Amue said.

“I don’t know if you know this, but Princess Allura is alive and well with Voltron,” Lotor said.

“Is that a Galran attempt at humor?” Amue said.

“I’m serious,” Lotor said.

“How?”

“I don’t know. Stasis, probably,” Lotor said.

“I’ll let the other cells know if I can,” Amue said, “For what it’s worth, you’re nothing like I’d have expected you to be, son of Zarkon.”

“I think I’ll take that as a compliment,” Lotor said.

———————————————————— ——————————————————————

Disembarking the ship, Lotor was dismayed to see the port was just as ragtag as the ship. The universe was really not a good place in the future. Lotor found his judgment to have been in error as he continued to explore and found there were better parts of the port, but these were clearly Galra controlled, from the Galran writing everywhere. He found a secluded corner and released his Altean shift. He still was different from many of the aliens but he received less odd looks this way. He found what appeared to be the military outpost and walked into it. There were Galra youths who appeared to be trying to enlist and a large furred Galra officer behind the desk who looked like he was one more stupid question away from killing something, or someone.

“I’d like to speak with whoever’s in charge,” Lotor said holding himself as best he could.

“What’s a masc like you doing in here?” the Galra sneered.

“I think you’d better allow me to speak to your superior officer, unless you want things to cease being pleasant,” Lotor said channeling his father as best he could. The Galra finally took a good look at him and though it made Lotor slightly sick, he got some satisfaction over the fact the Galra recognized him. Fumbling for the call button, and stammering out an apology, the Galra did a sloppy salute which Lotor returned. The officer was a familiar one: Commander Halroc.

“I thought that your records were exaggerations, now I see that they were correct. You could find trouble anywhere, Your Highness” Commander Halroc said. Lotor barely contained his anger. The Commander had no right to look at his records!

“Good to see you too, Commander,” Lotor said after a few moments.

“Your father has half the fleet looking for you,” Commander Halroc said.

“Only half?” Lotor said, “He must not have been too worried then. Was Miria recovered?”

“The Druid apprentice? She’s fine,” Commander Halroc said. Lotor followed Halroc further into the building and saw it was mostly manned by droids, a lot like the ship he’d been on before his….side trip. Commander Halroc’s officer was equipped with the best communications array and Commander Halroc activated it. The Holoscreen appeared and Lotor saw his father’s face filling the screen.

“You found him,” Zarkon said with obvious relief in his voice. At that moment, Lotor could almost forget everything his father had become, because this was so very much like his father from before _everything_.

“I will have him on the first ship back to the Core Ship, sir,” Commander Halroc said bowing his head.

“See that you do.” And with that the transmission ended.

————————————————— ————————————————————————

Lotor’s confinement to his quarters, after being taken to a medic more moments once he’d stepped onto the Core Ship, was something he should have seen coming. It was a strained meeting between himself and his father, in light of everything he’d learned. The Alteans could have been lying to him, he knew that was possible, but everything else he’d observed around him since his revival didn’t contradict anything they’d said. In fact, the more he saw, the more things were confirmed. The door opened and a droid was placing a meal down on the desk before it left.

“What happened to Samuel Holt?”

“Property transfer,” the droid said before it left. Lotor’s appetite died.

——————————— ———————————— ————————————

“If you don’t eat, you won’t be cleared to train.” Lotor looked up to see it was Miria with the tray this time.

“I hope you weren’t punished for….everything,” Lotor said.

“I failed in my duties. My punishment was justified,” Miria said handing Lotor the tray, “They sent your pet to one of the mining colonies. I don’t know which one.” Lotor tried not to roll his eyes at the use of the word “pet.” Samuel Holt hadn’t been a “pet” to him.

“Thank you for telling me,” Lotor said as he set the tray of food down.

“You’re not happy here, are you?”

“Things are too different,” Lotor said.

“I thought so too, at first,” Miria said.

“Too?”

“Mother had me kept in stasis because I had a nearly incurable condition I’d been born with nearly four thousand years ago. It took her most of that time to create a cure for my condition while working on bringing you back in addition to her primary duties to your Father and the Empire,” Miria said, “You will get used to things in time, though it won’t be easy as a living relic.” Lotor gave her a small nod before she left. Lotor shifted his form and looked down at his now Altean hand.

He wished he could have the faith Miria did.

——————————————————————————————— ———————

Lotor idly read over some historical records, toying at his food. Whoever wrote this must have taken classes in boring others to death. He was in such a bored state he didn’t notice the door opening.

“Wow, the looks so interesting.” Lotor jumped and saw it was just Miria, in full proper robes and her white mask holding a bundle of clothing.

“Any reason you’re here?” Lotor asked.

“You’re to put these on and come with me. Emperor Zarkon has arranged a special attraction in honor of your birthday.” Lotor checked the calendar and saw he’d somehow missed that it was already his birthday. Lotor took the clothing from Miria’s arms and entered the refresher closing the door behind him. he wrinkled his nose at the garments: dress uniforms were a pain in the _cea_. He managed to get everything on and in place and realized it was a deep navy color just like his mother’s markings had been. The cape, on the other hand was dark violet on the outside and lined with Galra red. There was a crown too: a thin silver circlet. He brushed his hair and pulled it back into a formal braid like his mother had. Upon exiting Miria let nodded before walking to the door. Lotor followed after her and worked on school his face into a more neutral mask. They must have covered half the massive ship’s length before Miria led him into a lift which took them to a section of the newly repaired connection ring of the Core Ship leading to a larger structure down the rings. They passed guards and and droids but not much else. Another lift ride later and they were in a large box full of courtiers. Lotor knew their kind on sight from the past.

“I present His Imperial Highness, Prince Lotor,” Miria said. This caused a hushed silence to reign over the box as Lotor approached his father. He bowed at the waist before his father bid him to rise.

“It has been many years since I’ve been able to celebrate this date.” Lotor nodded. His father stared at him a little while longer before he resumed his seat. Lotor took the empty seat next to him and saw there was an arena of sorts. What sporting even used an arena like that?

“In honor of the Prince’s birthday, we shall have a gladiatorial match like no other! Today, we will pit our current greatest champions against robotic replicas of the greatest champions of all time!” _Gladiatorial_ —Lotor barely kept his face neutral. _There was no honor in this!_ The crowds below them erupted into chaotic cheers as the assorted aliens were brought forwards wearing prisoner garb and some bore cybernetics grafted onto their bodies. Some, seamlessly, and some not-so seamlessly. The robotic replicas were monstrous to behold. Some even looked like there were some organic parts to them. Like the monsters of old: Robeasts.

“Haggar certainly pulled out all the stops for this match.” The only purely robotic form was that of a what Lotor had thought was an Altean robotic replica, but a closer look revealed it to be a human, like Samuel Holt. He had a brief painful flash of another human face and a name “Shiro.” He shook his head and braced himself for what was to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally had this kidnapping thing go WAY differently but after a while it just seemed too.....contrived. So I had to keep re-writing it until I got to this version.
> 
> Galran Glossary:  
> masc: as said before, derogatory form of “leatfola”, also a sort of “n” word for Galra cross-breeds.   
> cea: ass AKA another Garla form of Quiznak


	10. Chapter 9: Thank the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reincarnation was a pain in the _**ass**_.

****Lotor grimaced whenever the first robotic beast form locked blades with a snarling large alien of some kind. He recognized none of the species fighting in the ring, nor most of the robotic replicas except the human and the human was troublingly familiar. The first death had the crowds below on their feet roaring and Lotor barely keeping his dinner down. He glanced around and saw many of the courtiers were just…. _bored_ as if living creatures _weren’t_ being slaughtered below them. The living manage to destroy one of the partly organic robots which seemed to goad the other machines into a frenzy. The blood bath continued in this way until there was only a large hulking alien with two arm prosthetics (out of four arms) and the human robotic replica. The replica’s hand glowed violet, and Lotor saw an image of a black armored form that was not his father, fighting the same way! Everyone in the box had gotten so caught up with the fight, that the whine of a blaster caught them off guard. Lotor was scrambling for a weapon on his thigh only to meet empty air and them wonder why he’d reach there for a weapon? He shook his head as he dove behind a barrier with some courtier fumbling with something.

“Is that a weapon?” he asked. The courtier nodded and Lotor took his holding it out from himself summoning a blade of energy and plasma. He looked over the edge and saw his father already had risen and had his bayard in hand. Lotor looked around and saw the main force had mostly headed towards the Galran Emperor but there were a few headed his way. He narrowed his eyes and leapt up slashed downwards with the strange futuristic weapon and managing to slash a plasma bolt out of the air before rushing the armed goons with his sword and becoming a deadly bladed whirling form. The goons fell as the main force was massacred by his father.

“Not even a challenge.” Lotor nodded at his father. Only the first one was dead of his adversaries, though. The others had lost limbs or were rendered unconscious. His father noticed and nodded approvingly,

“We’ll need them to find out how this happened. Excellent work, my son.”

“Thank you, Father,” Lotor said. He switched the weapon off and returned it to the courtier who barely stammered out a,

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

“I had hoped to present this to you later at the close of the match, but it would appear that is already done.” his father gestured at a nearby lackey who walked forwards and presented Lotor with his own light-sword. He took the handle and the provided holster.

“Thank you,” Lotor said and he didn’t bother fighting off the smile. He composed himself and the impassive mask was back but there was some approval in his father’s eyes. It was a good moment until a glance down at the arena revealed the final robotic form covered in gore standing victorious.

“I think we’ve had enough festivities for the night.” his father left and Lotor not soon after. Though he didn’t exactly head straight for his quarters.

For one, he actually didn’t know the way back. For another, he needed some space. He strapped the blade handle to his thigh after a few moments. It felt _right_ to have a weapon resting there. Though, he _did_ wonder whatever had become of his favorite sword. He headed back in the direction he was sure he’d come from before but from there the turns were lost and he couldn’t find himself caring. He walked like he was supposed to be there and any guards who thought to stop him, didn’t.It was a major surprise to him that he found himself in front of Haggar’s labs. The door was locked by a hand print and Lotor tried it and was pleasantly surprised when it worked.

He looked around and it was empty. Several monitoring devices, or things he guessed were monitoring devices, were seen, but otherwise he was alone. He carefully picked around the various experiments and stopped dead.

Those were—he felt violated. He had already _known_ his current body had been cloned, but to see so many of himself. A horrible thought came to him. His father hadn’t been worried about him while he was gone because Haggar would have been able to drag his soul back into one of these things and start all over again. He reached for the blade at his side and—

“Don’t!” He turned to see it was another druid working under Haggar, “Please, don’t destroy them!” Lotor stared at her trying to keep his anger in check.

“Why?” he grit out.

“Mistress Haggar has spent too long tending to those, to _you_ , for you to destroy them.”

“How are these ones my proper age, but I—.”

“Your soul wasn’t taking to any of the mature vessels because of how long it had been in your other vessel. It was postulated that your soul would synchronize better with a vessel of the same age and development,” the druid said.

“Other vessel?” Lotor said.

“Weren’t you told?” the druid said. Lotor was reeling. To her “vessel” mean body and that meant—Lotor fell to his knees grasping his chest as the world wavered before him changing from the lab to another place with Allura. The pain was too much and he blacked out.

——————————— ———————————————————————————————————

_As the power flickered in the Castle the Paladins thought little of it until Coran and Allura exchanged looks and took off running. Worried by the Alteans’ sudden departure from the room, the others raced after them. Their destination was the med bay. Allura and Coran stood by Keith’s stasis pod. It was failing. It opened and Coran caught Keith before setting his body down. Keith gasped and his eyes snapped open for a few moments at a time. Allura placed a hand on Keith’s arm and after a few moments more, his body stilled, but he was breathing. Barely._

_“His body can’t take much more of this,” Coran said after a quick scan of Keith’s vitals. Matt Holt entered the room and blinked at the fact Keith was out of the pod._

_“What if they already did their “resurrect the dead guy” thing and this is a sign that his quintessence is rejecting that body too?” Matt said._

_“Or, it’s because this body is dying,” Allura said, “It has been an Earth week.”_

————————————————— ————————————————

Lotor came too in a lot of pain, but the sight around him was still the lab with Haggar bent over him.

“The worst one yet,” she remarked offering Lotor a hand. He took it and weakly stood up. The other druid was missing.

“Why are these here?” Lotor asked after a few moments gesturing to the clones.

“They’re here because I grew them and just because you have this body now doesn’t mean you won’t end up doing something… _reckless_ and end up dying again,” Haggar said.

“You mean to keep ripping my soul out and placing it in new bodies?” Lotor said.

“If I must,” Haggar said.

“Is this even my soul?” Lotor said.

“Of course it is! How else would you have your memories, your _complete_ memories?” Haggar said.

“Then what did that other Druid mean by other vessel?” Lotor asked.

“With the sufficient rate of synchronization you have with your body, it doesn’t matter,” Haggar said. Lotor took a step forward only to grab his chest again. He saw Allura again and other humans. He couldn’t quite make out the words they were saying but he wanted to. He could feel himself being pulled back to Haggar and the Core ship but he fought a few moments longer. The voices sounded clearer and he could make out a name they kept saying.

“Keith!” Everything seemed to turn white from pain.

———————————————— ——————————————————

When he opened his eyes he was back in his room and someone had removed his boots. He was also alone.

Keith looked down at his hands and clenched them into fists, claws causing him to unclench them. He’d almost forgotten about those. He was even more confused than he had been _before_ that witch had stolen his “Keith” memories.

Lotor’s love for his father, and his disgust for what the empire had become both fit with Keith’s own hatred for the Galra Empire and clashed with his desire to end it and _end Zarkon_. His childhoods also were at war with one another.

Neither one had been what _most_ would classify as entirely “happy” but both had happiness for a time. His life as Lotor a longer span of time than his life as Keith.

As Lotor he’d always had at least one parent, even if they had grown more distant and ended up putting Lotor into a military academy as soon as possible.

As Keith, he’d had the Shiroganes after a year of—. He shook his head to ward off that memory and some of the other memories from the academy. He’d barely had his mind organized before all this and now, with the other memories formed as Lotor, things were clashing more. Samuel Holt! Damn! If he’d still been….not that it mattered. He’d have never been able to do anything to free Samuel Holt without drawing too much attention to him.

Lotor had been an obedient soldier whose temperament was more like Keith’s but had been beaten into submission by an academy partly biased against him for not being a pure Galra and partly because much more was expected from the son of Drule’s greatest warrior and pilot. Keith had been, mostly, channeled in the right direction, and that had almost been enough, though defiance hadn’t been as carefully tamped down that time through. He yelled out in frustration and punched the mattress. That was, at least, better than punching the wall. He’d almost been back in his human body there for a moment. Had it died? He hoped not. That would make it **_twice_** that he’d died. A record he didn’t particularly care to have. Those other clone bodies needed **_to go_**. How, though? He tried to take a few steps and he felt weak. Almost like he had on awakening the first time _before_ Haggar stole half his memories. Until he could find a way back to Voltron, he was stuck playing at being Lotor. Well, not really. He _was_ every bit as much “Lotor” as he was “Keith.”

Reincarnation was a pain in the **_ass_**.

He liked the name Keith better. He liked most of his Keith life better. As Keith, he’d gotten to be a kid. As Lotor, he’d had to grow-up **_so_** much faster. He moved to the console to look something up whenever he felt a sort of pull. Different than what he’d felt with the Blue Lion, but it was a similar sensation. He changed into more casual clothing and was down the hall following this strange pull and it ended up at Haggar’s lab. He almost turned back whenever his earlier defiant state kicked in and was bolstered by his other memories. He entered and saw a lot of lights flickering and a glowing off to the side. Then there was a dark feeling that made Keith sick to his stomach and he managed to not vomit on any of the technology. Dark magic.

“Prince Lotor! You shouldn’t be up yet!” It was Miria, he thought.

“I’m alright,” Keith said wiping his mouth off, “I’m sorry about the mess.” Miria waved a hand as a bolt of quintessence vaporized it.

“Why are you here?”

“I sensed something,” Keith said.

“Sensed something? That would mean—I have to inform My Mistress about this!” Miria said before she rushed over to Haggar who appeared from the back area of her lab where the clones were kept.

“Prince Lotor, are you feeling better?” Haggar said.

“I’m fine,” Keith said.

“Mistress. He’s here because he **_sensed_** something,” Miria said.

“Sensed—but he never had that talent in the past!” Haggar said.

“What talent?” Keith asked.

“Druid potential,” Haggar said, “I will need to draw some of your blood.” Keith didn’t trust her, but he knew Lotor, even an angry Lotor, would. He offered her his arm and she drew some pinkish blood and ran over to a machine and it gave her results that made her furrow her eyebrows.

“You had previously inactive genes that are necessary for druid potential and now they’re active, making it fully possible for you to learn some limited magic,” Haggar said.

“Magic, like throwing a bolt made of quintessence?” Keith asked.

“Possibly,” Haggar said, “For these genes to have activated at all….” the witch shuffled off muttering a bunch of things to herself that made no sense to Keith. He heard smashes and cursing from Haggar and the other druids.

“Keep the prince back,” Haggar yelled at Miria before she dashed to the back of her lab. Keith heard a loud “ _zapp_ ” sound and a few yells which prompted him to investigate. The area was a mess and there was a massive mutated body in the middle of the tank row. A robeast prototype. On the bright side, well at least to Keith, all the clones of him were destroyed. He backed away as something else swirled in the room, something he could sense. Something like—He leaned against a wall as he fought off another wave of nausea. Tubes of quintessence glowed and shattered. The lights flickered from the energy in the air and other tanks in the room exploded.

“Get Prince Lotor out of here!” Haggar ordered her other druids. Keith felt too sick to resist the druids dragging him away. Miria and he were literally flung out into the hallway along with two other apprentices and the doors were sealed. Even with a door between him and whatever was happening in the lab wasn’t enough and he wasn’t the only one looking ill. The apprentices were too. Alarms went off through the Core ship and guards arrived to help all four of them get up and get moving away. Miria had to be half dragged, and Keith couldn’t blame her; even _if_ her mother happened to be an insane witch. They had barely made it into a new corridor whenever blast doors closed behind them cutting off the lab corridors from the rest. This still didn’t block the sense of dark magic and that’s when an apprentice lost her fight with her illness and puked all over the drone guard helping her stand. The Galra guard wrinkled his nose,

“Get them to the med bay.” the droids obeyed carrying the apprentices but Keith, he was being assisted by a Galran guard waved off being carried and kept on his own feet barely making it into the med bay before losing his own battle with being sick twice in one day, but luckily a medic was standing by with something for him to empty his guts into. A few other Galra showed up and they appeared to be expected and then there were the off duty druids who were brought in violently ill. The sense of this magic didn’t end for what felt like days but it was really an hour. When it ended, it wasn’t an instant relief but Keith didn’t feel like he would throw-up anymore. Med teams geared up and those who weren’t as bad off as the druids or their apprentices were bade to leave. Keith went to join them.

“I wouldn’t, Your Highness. Your systems show your body is still in as much distress as the others with your level of quintessence sensitivity,” a medic said. Keith didn’t fight them as they forced him to sit back down.

——————————————————— ———————————————————————

Haggar was in rough shape as she was brought in and she was the druid with the least amount of injuries. The others were in critical condition and were put in the Galran version of healing pods. Haggar moaned and mumbled as the medics treated her injuries before putting her in a pod too. Keith didn’t need to look up to know Zarkon had arrived.

“What happened?”

“There was a massive surge of quintessence in Haggar’s lab that affected the more quintessence sensitive individuals aboard the ship and there was an explosion in Haggr’s lab. She and her senior assistants will make it. She’d had the forethought to throw out the apprentices and His Highness before things had grown worse,” the head medic said. Keith looked up at Zarkon who was looking at him as if seeing him for the first time.

“The effects on those who weren’t caught in the blast are temporary, but like any incident of over stress, rest is the best cure,” the medic said. Zarkon nodded before he turned to leave. He stopped,

“I trust you’ll obey the medics, son?” Keith nodded respectfully.Zarkon left the room and Keith gave up fighting gravity and just let himself fall onto the exam bed he’d been sitting on.

“That’s why I didn’t let you leave earlier, You Highness.” Keith didn’t have the energy to fight off a jab of a needle to his arm and he drifted off.

——————————————— ————————— ———————————

_“Did you cause this?”_

_“No, my lord. I have yet to figure out why those genes activated.” Zarkon looked down at the sleeping form of his son and back up at Haggar, “I_ **_do_ ** _know what caused the quintessence explosion: a spontaneous incarnation occurring while we were trying to contain the essence of the failed robeast.”_

_“Who?”_

_“_ **_Her_ ** _.” Zarkon’s express turned cold._

_“Why would you even keep a copy of_ **_her_ ** _.”_

_“The clone was merely an exercise to see if I_ **_could_ ** _._ **_Her_ ** _soul was never something I wanted to summon.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Next to Last Chapter!!  
> Thanks to all of you who have followed this story!  
> Just one more week until _In Every Lost Soul the Bones of a Miracle_ concludes.  
>  Until next Monday!  
> -MP


	11. Chapter 10: Something to believe in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything comes to a head and choices are made.

****Keith woke up in the med bay with some lingering weakness but he was otherwise alright. That was more than could be said for the still unconscious apprentices and other druids. He noticed a bandage on his inner right elbow but remembered that was where he’d been injected by that sedative.

“Any lingering feelings of nausea?” a medic asked. Keith shook his head.

“You may leave, but no training for the day,” the medic said. Keith groaned a little before remembering as Lotor, he had to contain that better.

“Don’t give me that, you know better.”

“Very well,” Keith said hopping off the exam bed just as Haggar entered the med bay.

“Your Highness, if you would come with me,” Haggar said. Though it was phrased as a request, Keith knew an order when he heard one. He followed her to the lab and the insides were mostly intact with some quintessence burns here and there, from the faintly yellow sparks here and there. Droids exited carrying large containers of broken metal and gas.

“Your activated druid potential is both an asset and a weakness as you experienced first hand yesterday,” Haggar said, “Without training to block out quintessence, this could prove a fatal weakness for you.”

“Training?” Keith said.

“Yes. Miria will help you, since you seem to have built a rapport with her,” Haggar said. Keith nodded.

“If that is all?” Keith said.

“One more thing, Your Highness,” Haggar said, “This training requires absolute trust in Miria.”

“Understood,” Keith said with a nod. Quiznak. He needed a way out before the apprentice druid could realize he was playing at being _just_ his Lotor self, which really wasn’t too different than his Keith self give or take a childhood of extreme discipline.

———————————————————— —————————————————

_Yellow eyes snapped open inside a dark cell, partly blocked by thick white hair. Well, this was_ **_quaint_ ** _, but it wouldn’t be long until that upstart, treacherous chaltza arrived with that Usurper. She could feel the vile presences of them both along with other strange twisted forms. Monsters. So little Haggar was making monsters and—oh? What was that? That quintessence would be fun to mutilate. So full of black fire and it seemed to be linked to something familiar, a lot like how Zarkon’s was—_ **Paladin** _! So, they had a strange little paladin aboard. He must have stolen the warrior since Alfor had wisely taken the traitor’s Lion from that Usurper just after he’d taken over Drule, and even Zarkon’s precious little brother, Zoroaster, had sided against him. Her cell door slammed open and in walked her ex-best friend, Haggar._

_“What is being the lapdog to a madman like?” the former Princess Merla said with a cruel grin._

_“You think your words can hurt me, deposed one?” Haggar sneered. Merla rolled her eyes,_

_“We both know I’m the more powerful druid, or rather the more talented one,” Merla said._

_“How did you know—.”_

_“That spell? Your druids weren’t all loyal to you, at first. I learned your magic, and now you’ll never be rid of me, but I thank you for the Galran body, this time. My_ **_last_ ** _body was a pathetic species and almost powerless,” Merla said with with a gesture at her form, “Did you succeed in bringing that brat back from the dead?” Hangar’s glare made Merla’s malicious grin grow,_

_“So you did! I wonder how many vessels he lived through with those curses you placed on his soul.”_

_“I did no such thing to Prince Lotor!”_

_“Really? Are you certain? Anchoring a soul to this plane_ **_for all eternity_ ** _is not a curse?” Merla said, “Keeping him from ever entering the afterlife, to be eternally reborn is_ **_not_ ** _a curse?” Haggar's glower made Merla laugh. Haggar growled at her._

_“Silence!”_

_“No. You messed up and not even_ **_I_ ** _could unpick those spells from his essence because after a while those spells meld with your quintessence, like they did with mine,” Merla said in between boughts of laughter._

_“Silence!” Haggar zapped Merla, which only caused her laughs to increase in-between screams. Haggar stormed out of the cell. Merla kept chuckling as she held her hands apart. Oh Haggar had given her_ **_just_ ** _what she needed._

————————————————————————— ————————————————

Keith was in the training room working off his frustrations at his lack of a plan for getting **back** to Voltron. As Lotor, he was far too “valuable” to be taken too far from Zarkon’s side, as the only stint in the modern era had proven. Ugh, why couldn’t he have remembered during _that_ trip. He could have gotten away cleanly. There was also the fact that, as Lotor, he still loved his-he still loved **_Zarkon_**. As Keith, the idea seemed ludicrous, but to Lotor, that was still his father. Keith blocked a hit from the droid and kicked it away.

“End simulation.” He stared down a purple hand and clenched it. This body was a copy of Lotor’s, of _his_ first life’s body, and that meant that by blood Zarkon was his father once more. Keith, the orphaned Keith, had a need to hold onto any family as tightly as possible, and that was also making this hard. If he left, he would be leaving family, but that family was a would-be universal tyrant, and already a galactic tyrant and genocidal maniac. He grabbed a water pouch a droid had left him and drank it to appear like everything was normal with “Lotor” but it was also frustrating to know he had seen and spoken to Samuel Holt and had been in no position to rescue him and no frame of mind to _think_ to rescue him. He crushed the pouch when thinking of how that Druid had messed with his head. He tossed the empty pouch aside before he turned to resume his training whenever the power flickered. Alarms blared as a soldier rushed into the room.

“Your Highness!” He tossed Keith a bundle that, when unraveled revealed it was a space suit, sort of like how the Paladin armor was. Keith pulled it on over his current body suit, along with the boots and quickly coiled up his long hair so he could pull on the helmet, which sealed.

“Life support systems are failing, please report with me to sa—.” The Guard had a blade plunged through his chest to Ketih’s horror. The Galra who, now pointed the blade at him, was no one Keith had seen yet, but it was a big Core Ship.

“Come with me,” he growled. Keith narrowed his eyes. Another flicker and the lights were out, not that it really mattered to Galra, or half-Galra as it were. Keith tried to break free but found himself pinned by the superior power of the adult Galra, and felt the Galra exposing some of his skin before injecting him with something.

That was the second time! It was old the first time. Keith’s limbs refused to respond as the Galra tossed him over his shoulder while everyone aboard seemed to be running about in a panic. Too weak to even moan, Keith was also shocked a Galra was doing this. Zarkon would kill this guy for this, and he was both disgusted and slightly, not proud, but happy with that knowledge. He was tossed into a small shuttle craft while the Galra prepped for take off.

“Where are you going?”

“Patrol.” His captor lied.

“At this time?”

“I was already scheduled for it, Sir, and I cannot delay my responsibilities even during a ship crisis,” the Galra said. Keith had no idea if the guy was going to go for it but he was getting feeling back in his hands and could twitch his fingers.

“Proceed, but keep in contact.” Just as Keith could sit up, the shuttle was moving out of the Core Ship.

“Where are you taking me?” Keith said.

“Some place safe,” the Galra said, “Someplace where you won’t be made to think you’re a dead man.”

“You think I’m just some copy?” Keith said flatly.

“Haggar’s powers are formidable, but bringing back the dead seems to be a stretch.” Keith rolled his eyes, but here was his way out, handed to him on a silver platter.

“Then take me to Voltron,” Keith said.

“What?”

“I need to get to them,” Keith said.

“Why would I endanger them with a lunatic clone who _thinks_ he’s Prince Lotor?”

“I’m not a lunatic!” Keith snarled.

“Do you, or do you not think you’re Lotor?” the Galra looked back at Keith and he glared.

“My name is **Keith** ,” he said after a few moments of a glaring contest.

“Alright “Keith” why would Voltron want to have anything to do with **you**?”

“I’m the Red Paladin,” Keith said.

“And I’m Emperor Zarkon,” the Galra said. Keith growled at him and let a punch fly close to the Galra’s head,

“I **_am_** the Red Paladin,” Keith said through gritted teeth.

———————————— ———————————————————

They flew in terse silence for what seemed like forever, but Keith knew it had to have only been a few hours. The Galra traitor had made severally transmissions in the meantime to others. He caught the name “Thace” a few times as this Galra seemed to be reporting to this other Galra, whose name was Thace. They arrived at some sort of hidden base and the traitor pointed a blaster at Keith this time. Keith glared but walked out under the threat of the gun.

“Why are you pointing a gun at this cub?” It was a female Galra. She reminded Keith of Sendak, same sort of ears and thick fur but she was nearly black from how dark her violet fur was.

“He’s one of Haggar’s sick experiments, Jiira.”

“Korox, lower the gun.” It was another Galra. This one was more like Haxus, but he seemed older, and his fur was fluffier as it swept up into the hair/ear spikes and were more vertical than Haxus’s had been. He was also a lighter purple over all and short for a Galra.

“Of course, Thace.” Keith removed his helmet and the Galra around him all gave him odd looks.

“I see what you meant by him being one of Haggar’s experiments,” Jiira said invading Keith’s personal space.

“He claims he’s the Red Paladin,” Korox said.

“I **am** the Red Paladin,” Keith snapped.

“The same insane paladin who took on Zarkon?” Thace said.

“Not one of my better moments,” Keith said, “But I’d do it again to keep him from reclaiming the Black Lion.

“How do you exist? Most surviving Alteans stay as far from Galra as possible and avoid mixing with other species when possible, and then there is the fact your look just like Prince Lotor,” Jiira said, “And they were proclaiming you as such.”

“Druid magic can do some twisted things to people’s souls,” Keith said.

“Of course she did,” Thace seemed disgusted, “It’s how she makes those robeasts of hers.”

“What?” Korox said.

“That body isn’t the one you were born with, is it?” Jiira said. Keith shook his head. This wasn’t a lie for either life, since his original body as Lotor was gone and he’d had his soul ripped from his human body. Korox looked extremely confused.

“The body is a clone, but the quintessence isn’t,” Thace said. Korox seemed to get it.

“Ah! So he’s not some crazy clone after all!”

“But Zarkon seems to think he’s actually Lotor reborn, which means the Red Paladin is a great actor, or Zarkon’s memories of the real prince have faded over the centuries,” Jiira said, “Which means, he’s going to react as if this really **is** his son.”

“I need to find Voltron,” Keith said.

“We’ll do our best to help. The universe needs your team to be whole to fight Zarkon,” Thace said.

————————————————————————————————————— ————————————

_“Status report?”_

_“The monstrous one got away,” Haggar growled, “And no one can locate Prince Lotor, but there is evidence of foul play in the training room; a guard was stabbed from behind and Lotor left his weapon behind.”_

_“Find him.”_

_“Of course.”_

———————————————— ————————————————— ————

Keith had shifted to a more Altean form after getting sick of some of the stares coming from the others in the Galra resistance base. It was a slightly _underwhelming_ sight but, it was likely _just_ one cell of many. He hoped.

“We’ve heard reports of Voltron in other sectors, and if other agents find them, they’ll try to get us coordinates to get a wormhole open. Keith nodded. Thace just stared at Keith for a while making to the point of Keith feeling uncomfortable.

“Your way of speaking Galran is _odd_. More like Haggar or Zarkon’s style of speech than any modern Galra,” Thace said. Keith didn’t reply. Because he’d learned it when Zarkon had. Hell, he’d learned it _from_ Zarkon as Lotor.

“Thace! We’ve got a Castle sighting!” Korox said running over to Thace and staring at Keith oddly. “When did we get an Altean on board?” Keith rolled his eyes and shifted back to base-form causing Korox’s eyes to widen.

“You can fly a shuttle?” Keith nodded.

“Very well, we’ll give you one of the ones we can spare,” Thace said.

————————— ———————————————— —————

_The Castle of Lions had been somber since Keith’s…passing for lack of a better word. Shiro had insisted on cremation of the body and scattering the ashes in space._

_“Are we going to have to find a new Paladin?” Lance said._

_“Maybe not. If they’ve already….rehomed Keith’s quintessence, we may need to just find whatever body he’s in,” Pidge said, “Which might be impossible since the guy they were trying to bring back is Zarkon’s son.”_

_“There’s a shuttle craft hailing us!” Coran said over the speaker system. The others, and Matt exchanged looks and ran to the control room to join Coran and the screen was dark fuzz until Coran pressed a button. The face was purple, the hair white and longer, but the shape and eyes were pretty much the same._

_“Keith!” Shiro said. Keith smiled back at them._

_“Shiro. Everyone.”_

_“How did you—.”_

_“Long story,” Keith said shaking his head, “Can I dock?”_

———————————————————————— ————————

Keith barely took two steps out of the shuttle before being tackled by Hunk, Lance, and Pidge in a hug. Shiro joined a few moments later and two more sets of added pressure let Keith know Allura and Coran had joined them.

“What took you so long?” Shiro asked once everyone gave Keith a chance to breath.

“I didn’t remember being “Keith” until about a day and a half ago,” Keith said. Everyone fell silent.

“What did I say?”

“Your… _other_ body, died that day,” Allura said.

“Oh. That makes sense, I guess,” Keith said, “What did you, uh, do with—.”

“Cremated it, spread the ashes in space,” Shiro said. Keith rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“So you woke up purple and thought you were your purple self?” Lance said.

“No, I was me—Keith me—, at first. Haggar then made me forget “Keith” and only remember “Lotor.””

“How did you get away from Zarkon?” Pidge asked.

“I was kidnapped by a rebel Galra who thought I was just some clone of my past life made to _think_ I was my past life,” Keith said, “Though, he’s not completely wrong.”

“Cloned body?” Hunk said. Keith nodded.

“Now you’re younger than me,” Allura said with a smirk and Keith flushed a little.

“So, as Lotor, he was older?” Shiro said.

“By four years,” Keith said.

“Have any good kid Allura stories?” Lance asked.

“I’ve already died twice,” Keith said, “I’m not shooting for three times.” The statement was delivered so seriously that everyone was silent for a moment or two before breaking out into laughter.

“The purple is going to take some getting used to,” Pidge admitted. Matt nodded next to her,

“And I didn’t even get to know your _non-_ purple self all that well,” he said. Keith shifted to his more Altean form and there was more silence.

“Now you just look like you, but Altean,” Hunk said. Keith shrugged.

“Why can he change his hair color but you can’t?” Lance asked looking between Allura and Keith.

“I’m actually half-Altean,” Keith said, “I already have these genes so, shifting to an Altean form is a more complete shift than if I tried to shift into a human form at this point.” Keith then remembered,

“Pidge, Matt, I saw your father.”

“How was he? Where is he?”

“He was alright, but they transferred him off the Core Ship and I couldn’t find him again,” Keith said, “And when I was able to see him, I didn’t remember being “Keith.””

“But he was ok?” Matt said. Keith nodded.

“We’ll find him,” Pidge said. Matt placed a hand on Pidge’s shoulder and squeezed.

————————————— ————————————————

Keith couldn’t sleep. He sat awake in his room and it seemed as if nothing had really changed. His clothes were still strewn about the room from when he quickly changed into his armor, and his dagger had been placed in the room with the armor. He knew the symbol. It was for his-Lotor’s. No. _His_ house. Zarkon’s house. That memory from the day he lost his parents as Keith, that woman had spoken _Galran_. Druid. She had to have been. Yet, the dagger still brought him a small measure of comfort, like it always had. He set it aside and grabbed his red jacket. He pulled it on and was surprised it still fit him. He looked at his only other Earth clothes and shook his head. There was no way _those_ were fitting. He pulled off the jacket and winced when some of his hair was briefly snagged on parts of it. The hair. He grabbed a fist full of the white strands and held them in front of his face. He dropped them before he picked up his dagger again and unsheathed the blade. Keith gathered most of his hair into a bunch at his neck with one hand and held the blade of his dagger against it. One slice and it would be gone.

———————— ————————————— —————

**_“Look at you!” Mother smiled down at him, her long black hair framing her face. He looked into the mirror to admire his reflection. In his uniform and with his hair long like hers, he looked just like her. He closed his eyes and opened them and smiled at her reaction. Now he_ really _looked just like her!_**

———————————————— —————————————————

Keith lowered the dagger and sighed. He couldn’t do it. He focused and in his Altean form, he sheathed the dagger again and sat on his bed. His human mother, Su-jin, had liked his hair long too. The mullet he’d worn had been a compromise hair style between her and his human father Akira. His Altean mother, Kiara liked it long too. Zar—well, **He** hadn’t cared how Lotor’s hair had looked after Kiara died. Keith flopped down in a frustrated huff. His identity crisis was very poorly timed. They had to save to universe from his—from _Zarkon_. His current body’s, and past life’s, biological _father._ He needed to hit something.

———————— ————————— ————————————

Keith faced off against the gladiator drone and was pushing it, and himself, past his usual limits. It felt nice to have his bayard back in his hands. He could hear the training room’s doors opening.

“End program.” He stood in a relaxed stance panting as the footsteps drew closer.

“You still have to beat things up to relax?” Keith looked over at Shiro with a weary nod. It was slightly disconcerting to be nearly at eye level with him.

“I always have,” Keith said.

“So even as Lotor, you needed to beat stuff up to deal with emotions?” Shiro said.

“Especially as Lotor. But, Galra expect that so it wasn’t seen as too odd.” Keith walked over to the side and sat down.

“You know, it’s ok to feel conflicted about fighting him.” Keith looked up at Shiro confused for a few moments before looking away.

“I hate him. I hate him for forcing me to live like this. I hate him for what he’s doing to…well, **_everything_**. I hate him for being indirectly responsible for the end of my life as Keith, and for what was done to you,” Keith said.

“But, part of you still loves him.”

“He’s still this-my….” Keith trailed off.

“He’s still your father.”

“ **Resist the power of the Dark Side, you must**!” Lance had arrived.

“Lance, now is _really_ not the time,” Shiro said. A burst of laughter made them both jump and it was Keith laughing hysterically.

“Are you ok?” Lance asked. Keith waved off their concern as he kept laughing.

“Maybe he was laughing at how _bad_ your Yoda was,” Pidge said making Lance jump and let out a high pitched yelp with her appearance. Hunk, who just arrived, looked at the scene and shrugged. Keith stopped laughing.

“Call me “Luke” and you’re dead.”

“But you’re _totally_ him. Your Dad’s a total evil psychopath who was probably good a long, long, long time ago and we have to deal with quintessence which is sort of like the force!” Lance said.

“And those druids can throw lighting. We’re totally calling that Sith Lightning from now on,” Pidge said.

“And there might still be some good in him.” everyone looked at Hunk. “I said “might” maybe a mirco-smidge.”

“Thanks,” Keith said with a smile.

“I hope you guys know this won’t get you out of our training session later this morning,” Shiro said. The other three’s eyes widened before they all rushed off saying “Goodnight!” Shiro stood up and offered Keith a hand.

“You know, you’re the one who’s going to have to figure out how to tell Mom about all this,” Shiro said. Keith groaned.

“Ryou is going to be worse than Lance about the Star Wars jokes with both of us.” Shiro shook his head.

“See you in a couple hours for training,” Shiro said. Keith nodded and despite his conflicting thoughts and memories, it felt like things were settling for him. For now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has read, commented, and kudo'ed! It meant a lot.  
> I do have plans to continue in this universe. For now, this is where I'll leave you.  
> It's been great!  
> Happy New Year!  
> -MP

**Author's Note:**

> Link to the theory post: [ i-see-london-i-see-klance post ](http://i-see-london-i-see-klance.tumblr.com/post/148748636585/odd-thought-were-all-familiar-with-the)
> 
> Like I said in the summary this is based on “i-see-london-i-see-klance”'s post.  
> In it, basically they outline that Lotor was dying 10,000 years ago and Haggar, while unable to save Lotor's life was able to save his soul and Keith ends up being his reincarnation.
> 
> I can hear Lotor from _Golion_ /the Voltron most people in America knew scream at me from a distance.


End file.
